For Love of My Brother
by ArminaSkitty
Summary: Fed up with the clan, Itachi decides, not to go on a murderous rampage, but to Kidnap Sasuke and run away from Konoha to raise the child himself.... Poor Itachi... Chap 1 revamp, thanks gman
1. Runaway

For Love of My Brother

* * *

A.N.: This is another 'what if' fic, yet again. I think I like these things. My reason for making this fic is a little different. If anyone has gotten to the Sasuke/Naruto fight and seen the flashback Sasuke has about his family and Itachi then you should know what I'm talking about here. I like to analyze things and what I analyzed in this flashback is that the Uchiha's had _something_ coming to 'em. They didn't deserve to be murdered, but they probably deserved a smack-down. The clan as a whole and the parents in specific were glory-hungry and clan-centric; the only thing that really mattered to them was the glory of the clan. 

Itachi had to have seen that and was disgusted by the fact that he was only a tool to gather more prestige, not a real person at all. _And_ he had to have noticed that since Sasuke had only a little less skill than his elder brother, he was insignificant. Add to that the fact that Sasuke was probably the only one who was ever _honest_ to Itachi and the fact that Sasuke only sought acknowledgement and attention… Well.

Seeing this, and seeing how when Itachi rebelled Sasuke became a replacement for his elder brother, I felt that the best way to strike at the parents and strike them hard would be to remove both sons from them.

Another thing I noticed; I believe that, in the series itself, Itachi genuinely loves his brother, but doesn't know how to communicate that love. My reasons? 1) Sasuke is the only one that is spared, 2) Itachi gives Sasuke something to live for after the massacre (Sasuke seems the type to suicide if not given a reason to live), revenging his family, 3) when Itachi meets his brother again, he doesn't kill the youth, merely 'encourages' him to get stronger. This is what _I_ see and what _I _have deduced. Feel free to disagree, this is my _opinion_, I won't force it on you. If you wish to _debate_ this opinion, by all means, email me! I love a good debate. Anywho, this is part of the background as to why I'm writing this fic; longwinded and rambling as it is. Please don't kill me for starting _another_ fic and neglecting my other four, this idea was yelling at me to write it down. Enjoy.

Addition: Thanks G-man for the info from a _Reliable_ source. I've made the corrections and I wanted to give you a shout-out for the help. Arigatou!

* * *

It had happened again. Sasuke had brought home a report card full of perfect grades, but their father barely even glanced at it. Why? _Because I have _another_ important Anbu mission. Whoop-de-shit._ Itachi suppressed the urge to throttle his so-honored father with a greater effort of will than he used on any of his missions. One look at Sasuke's downcast face forced him to double his effort. 

But the true difficulty for Itachi lay not in repressing his violent urges; he did that all the time. No, what he found truly hard was trying to find something to say to his beloved little brother to cheer the mite up. Itachi wracked his brain for something to say, but couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound false and/or pathetic. _He deserves more than that!_

The little six-year-old mumbled something vague that his father didn't even respond to and left the room, pausing at the door way to look wistfully back at the man whose approval he so desperately desired before moving on. The man, his father Fugaku, didn't even notice, he was too busy interrogating Itachi on his newest mission. Itachi had to bite his cheek and glance down, away from the bastard who didn't deserve sons, to control his surging blood lust. _It's getting harder, _he noticed with concern,_ the more he ignores Sasuke, the harder it is for me to not pound Father's head in to make him _notice_ how incredible Sasuke is._

One would think, that upon realizing that not only your first son, but you second as well were geniuses at the Ninja arts, you as the parent would brag to all and sundry and drag your kids around to show off to other parents. But no, not the Uchiha clan heads.

_Mother and Father only care about how far up I can get in the ranks and then they brag about how difficult my latest mission was and how well I managed it. _I'm_ the heir after all. But Sasuke? He's not important; he's just the spare in case something happens to me. But at this rate, if something _does_ happen to me, Sasuke will rebel from all the demands they'll place on him. Hell, he may just suicide soon from the neglect. Not even Mother pays any attention to him. Why not? The kid is _better _than I am, not only is he great at the academy, but he makes friends, real friends, as well. That's something I could never do, and still can't. Thanks to the 'special training' Father gave me, I have no _clue_ how to express my emotions save through violence! Gods, I hate that!_

Itachi answered another question in the cold, robotic tone that he was forced to use because of early conditioning and inwardly seethed. The Uchiha clan head had wanted a perfect son that was utterly obedient and incredibly capable in the only thing that matter to him; Ninjutsu and status climbing. _Well, he got it; mostly._ Itachi was hailed as the greatest genius of his age and had so swiftly risen through the ranks many suspected favoritism. He was completely obedient to his parents' wishes, even though he hated them. Then, when Itachi was seven, something unexpected had happened; his mother presented the family with another baby boy.

Itachi had immediately fallen for the adorable, dark-eyed infant, but his parents… seemed less interested. Only Itachi had noticed that Sasuke was speaking clearly before he was six months old, or that he was walking easily before he was five months. Only Itachi noticed how Sasuke had taught himself to read by age two. Only Itachi acknowledged these feats and praised him for it; however awkwardly he had managed it.

_It's the same story all over again; Sasuke may not be the super-genius I was, but he's still outstripping his peers._ The elder Uchiha son tasted bile as his anger rose. _If I wasn't here, Father would notice how incredible the child is. But, even then, poor Sasuke would only be a substitute. I hate this family; they can't pay attention to one affection-starved boy and then lie about why they seek power and rank. And if Sasuke stays here, he may become the same; the same introverted, egotistical, arrogant, 'Only-Uchiha-Matters' minded fool that all the rest of this corrupted clan is. _

He grimaced so faintly no one could possibly see, thinking about a recent incident, where an Uchiha girl loved a non-Uchiha boy, that clearly demonstrated the Uchiha attitude. _Hell, when that she wanted to marry out-clan, how could that have hurt anyone? But the fuss they raised! You would have thought that she had just been caught selling Sharingan secrets to Suna!_

Every Uchiha was like that, save Itachi and Sasuke. They only reason they weren't was because Itachi despised his parents enough to see through the stupidity and Sasuke had been so neglected that he had never been taught the Uchiha snobbishness and elitism. _But if he stays here, it _will_ eventually rub off on him. Or he'll go rogue. I wish I cou-_

A thought struck Itachi as he continued to answer questions using less than half of his attention. _Why did I not think this before? What is wrong with me? I have no ties to this village save blood, which _is_ thinner than water to me. Why don't I just leave? No one is capable of catching me until it's too late. _And_ I _will_ take Sasuke with me, since I'm the only one who _really_ cares about the chibi._

Itachi mentally smirked,_ deprived of his first and second sons; maybe my _most_ honored father will notice that Sasuke's grades are just as perfect as mine, but that he was more liked. Maybe he'll even come to the conclusion that the way he treats us is the wrong way to win genuine loyalty. _The older teen grinned inwardly, the only way he knew how. Perhaps the fact that he had a new, long assignment was really a good thing. He'd have to pack for it after all…

* * *

It was deep night; everyone was now asleep. _Finally_. Itachi had been released from his father's interrogation to pack for his mission. No one noticed that he packed far more than he would really need; or that some of the items he packed weren't really needed on this mission… _Well, that may be because I'm not going on this mission, or any other from now on. _His conscience had assigned him a very different one. 

He inched his way out of his room and headed to Sasuke's, walking quietly but not stealthily. If he'd done the latter, he would have woken his parents, for they would still have sensed someone creeping around the house. As it was, if they sensed him, they would probably think that he was just using the toilet and trying not to wake them. _Which is what I want them to think._

When he reached the child's room he went over to the bed and gently shook Sasuke awake, placing a finger over his lips to keep him quiet. The boy immediately understood, more proof, if needed, of his intelligence.

"Onii-sama?" he whispered. Itachi tasted bile again.

"Nii-san." The elder brother corrected. The younger cocked his head in confusion. "You needn't be so formal." He elaborated.

"Oh. Oh-kay..." the child replied, "um, what's going on? What are you doing?"

"I'm… er… taking you on a surprise trip." Itachi explained awkwardly, "It's a reward for getting such good grades and we need to leave early if we're going to get to where we're going in time." A decent story if he did say so himself.

Sasuke brightened so much at the praise and mention of reward that Itachi was taken aback for a moment. He couldn't help but wonder then if he had ever seen Sasuke_ happy_ before. That thought angered him. _As a matter of fact, when was the last time _I_ was honestly happy?_ He couldn't remember, and that angered him more, for Sasuke's sake. What they had done to him, Itachi, they were doing again through neglect to the innocent child. That was just wrong.

"But…" Sasuke started to ask, dragging Itachi's attention back to the present, "what about training? If I go on a trip, won't I fall behind?"

"No," Itachi answered the legitimate question, "I'll be training you while we're gone." Which was only the truth.

The current brightening of the child's expression fully eclipsed his earlier cheer. _Does my attention really mean that much to him? Or is it that he's so attention-starved that any notice means that much to him? _Either case just cemented Itachi's resolve to get Sasuke out of the village and away from the neglect. Even if they stayed with Itachi resolving to spend more time with the child, nothing would change because the elder brother was simply kept too busy.

"Hurry and pack, and stay quiet." Itachi ordered quietly, "We don't want to wake Mother and F-father." Sasuke didn't notice how his brother tripped over giving _that man_ the title 'Father'.

"Aren't…" the child trailed off, then tried again when he noticed he had his elder brother's attention, "Are Mother and Father coming as well?"

"No." was the answer. Sasuke drooped a little.

"Do they know where we're going?" He asked.

"I cleared the trip with them." Itachi lied, not answering the question directly.

"Oh," the child folded a few more shirts and stowed them neatly in his pack. "May I leave them a note?" _He's determined to make this difficult, isn't he?_

"I already left them one." The elder brother said, which was true, just not the kind of note that Sasuke would have left. The younger brother drooped a little more.

"Father probably wouldn't read a note from me anyway." The child whispered sadly. He hadn't meant for that statement to be overheard, but Itachi caught it anyway and seethed. _He probably wouldn't care even if he did read it;_ he thought but didn't say out loud. Sasuke didn't need to hear that thought.

"I'm ready." The child finally said. Itachi nodded and motioned for Sasuke to follow him quietly. The two made their way out of the house into the village. To make sure that they weren't spotted, Itachi told Sasuke that he should practice his stealth in the safety of the village where if he messed up it wouldn't matter.

The child took to the training with a vengeance, working hard to mimic his brother and hopefully impress him. Itachi was impressed with the skill the six-year-old exhibited and told him so, causing the child to practically glow with happiness. They came up to the wall that surrounded the village and Sasuke started to head down it to the nearest portal when Itachi stopped him.

"We'll go over it here," the elder brother whispered to his younger sib. "It's quicker and good practice for you. Do you think you can jump it? Tell me honestly." Sasuke glanced at his brother and then studied the wall carefully. He next studied the surrounding buildings carefully, the tip of his tongue sticking out the corner of his pursed lips. Itachi couldn't help but think how cute the expression was.

"If I jump up the buildings there," the child pointed to a taller structure right next to the wall, "I can make it."

"Good answer," Itachi praised. Sasuke beamed and proceeded to follow his plan, his brother following and lending assistance in the very few instances it was needed. They made it to the top of the wall and Itachi leapt into the nearby trees carrying Sasuke, who confessed that he didn't think he'd make it without causing noise. Itachi praised the honesty. If Sasuke's expression was anything to go by, this was the best moment of his life.

_Dare I hope that we're going to make it out of the Fire lands without getting caught?_ Itachi wondered as he led his brother farther away from the village. He shouldn't have thought that; Murphy's Law exists even in worlds where Murphy himself never existed.

"You!" A voice called out from a tree near the one that the two brothers were on. "I'm going to need to check ID and verify your reasons for being here at this time!" _Crap._

"Not tonight!" Itachi growled, tucking his kid brother under his arm and launching off rapidly. Sasuke stared up at his brother, back at the man calling after them then began blowing his emergency whistle, then back at his brother.

"What-?"

"I'll explain later!" Itachi said, glancing back over his shoulder, then ducking under a shuriken, "For now, let's just say that this trip actually wasn't agreed upon!" He ducked a few more shurikens and pivoted to throw a few of his own, hitting one of the five pursuers in the legs. His Sharingan was activated and he was rapidly making battle plans, most of which he had to discard due to Sasuke's presence. Most of the ones he didn't discard largely involved running as fast as he could.

"Sasuke, hold on to me." He ordered. The child obeyed. With both hands free, he swiftly made the nessacary signs for the jutsu he decided on. A few moments later, six different Itachi's, each carrying a Sasuke, leapt out and scattered. The young ex-Anbu grinned feralily at the sounds of confusion. Then he swore quietly as one new voice gave out the confident command to chase after the real Itachi.

_Copy-Ninja Kakashi? What the fuck is he doing here? He's supposed to be on the mission I reneged on! _Itachi sweated for moment as he wracked his brain for a way to combat his Anbu sempai as well as try and figure out how the only non-Uchiha, Sharingan bearing ninja could possibly be here. _Oh, we were supposed to meet at three a.m. weren't we? Oops._

Sasuke was still clinging like a tick in spite of the fact that Itachi was supporting him. This allowed him to make a few more seals and unleash his next jutsu: Ryu-Ho-oh.

It was one that he'd worked out himself, combining Fire and Water elements. One could roll to put out fire; one could swim or brace to escape water. Steam however… A jet of super-heated steam shot out at the pursuers in the shape of intertwining dragons and phoenixes and hit the bulk of them, scattering the rest. This gave Itachi just enough time to vanish from their senses using a few more tricks.

* * *

Kakashi paused by one of his default teammates and checked him over for serious injuries. Seeing that the man was going to be okay, he summoned his Ninja dogs and sent them out after Itachi's scent. _It's probably too late though_. 

Itachi was exceedingly competent and had worked with Kakashi before and knew what he was capable of. But that's not what frustrated Kakashi, it was this escapade itself. _Why _had Itachi kidnapped his brother and made off with him? The young Anbu wracked his brain while he waited for his dogs to report.

Slowly, a pattern emerged in his mind. The Uchiha prodigy had been sent on a lot of missions in recent times, returning only to be sent out again. _At his father's insistence_. Kakashi realized that Itachi had been looking a little haggard in the past few weeks, not something you expected in a thirteen-year-old. The next thing that Kakashi noticed as he mulled over his memories was that while Itachi rarely, if ever, talked about himself or his family; Sasuke would come up as often as not when the young Anbu did talk.

But the Uchiha clan heads Fugaku and Mikota, Itachi and Sasuke's father and mother, never mentioned their younger son. Ever. The only reason that Kakashi was even aware of the fact that Sasuke existed was because _Itachi_ had mentioned him in a positive light. When Kakashi had been sent out to collect the tardy Itachi, he had expected to find him held up by his little brother in some manner. _I was right, just not in the way I expected. _

One of the dogs, the greyhound type, lunged out of the woods and stopped in front of Kakashi's feet.

"The runaway had passed the border of the Fire lands." It reported regretfully. Kakashi sighed.

"I was afraid of that." He said, "Oh well, you did your best and so did we. You're dismissed now." The dog nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke. Kakashi looked in the direction that Itachi had vanished in and tried to come to some logical conclusion.

_For whatever reason, Itachi must have felt that Sasuke was in danger of some kind. That's all I can think of as a reason for his doing this. I can't think of any other motive._ He sighed and shrugged, he'd report his conclusions to the Hokage when he returned. Now he needed to attend to his teammates and bring them in as well. There wasn't much else he _could_ do.

* * *

Itachi lunged from the head of one of the sentinel statues that marked the border, across the canyon to the other and looked back. One of Kakashi's dogs was standing there, snarling in frustration. Itachi snorted his derision and trotted into the brush on the other side of the river. Now, after all the fuss was over, did Sasuke stir. 

"Onii-san?" He asked, looking up at the brother who was currently confusing and scaring him.

"Yes, you deserve an explanation don't you?" Itachi replied, looking for a place to sit down. He found a newly fallen tree, a much preferable seat than an older fallen tree that would be bug infested. He set his brother down on one side and set himself down on the other. Sasuke looked over at him in confusion and finally voiced it in one word.

"Why?"

"Why did I run off with you, you mean?" Itachi asked in turn, stalling while he tried to come up with a reason that Sasuke would accept. The child nodded, staring intently. "Because… you deserve better than what you were getting."

"Huh?"

"We both deserve better actually." Itachi said, clearly struggling with this, "You need and deserve more attention and consideration than you were getting;" _and I deserved to be treated as something other than a tool and an object._ "That's why I kidnapped you and why I'm basically running away. We need to get away from that egocentric clan where people loose sight of themselves as people and only become tools for the clan." Sasuke's glazed-eyed expression told Itachi that he'd lost him.

"Never mind." He said, "I took you away from there for your own good, and I don't want to return you for the same reason." Itachi reached out a hand to the child, "Come on, let's go."

Sasuke blinked up at his brother for a moment, then took his hand and walked off with him; away from Konoha.

* * *

A.S.: #peeks over sandbags# Oh gods, the readers of my other fics are going to _kill me_…. I have a number of other fics that are in-prog and I've already got people yelling at me to hurry up and update those, so needless to say, I really shouldn't be writing this one. Updates will be on a monthly to six-week basis if you're lucky. I will _try_ and update more often, and since my scuba class is going to finish within the week, updates will occur with slight more frequency; until college kicks in and starts whipping my ass as it has a tendency to do. 

I have Pre-calc (five units), Spanish 1 (four units) and Ceramic Sculpture (three units) this semester, plus and average of eighteen hours of work average, which means I'm a very busy girl. Writing is a hobby I take seriously, but it's still a hobby. I would love to spend eight hours a day typing, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I don't mean to sound preachy or lecturing or anything, I'm just letting you know my schedule so you don't get your hopes to high, or feel that I'm one of those 'Write half a story then vanish off the face of the earth' people. I WILL finish all my works; I hate the afore mentioned people and I hate hypocrites. I have no intention of becoming either. This will be finished at some point. That point may be ten years from now… but it'll still be finished.

That being said, the next chap will take place six years from the end point of this fic; namely, the rough start time of the Naruto-verse. Already got it roughed out, should appear _relatively _soon. How soon is that? No frickin' clue. Ja Ne!

* * *

P.S.: Sorry about all the repetition in the fic, I need to rewrite it without all that, but I wanted to get this up to see how well it'll be received. I also wanted to get the idea I have about the Uchiha clan across crystal clear 

Further more, before anyone can even hint about it, _This will not be an ItachixSasuke fic!_ Yaoi may appear later, I don't know yet, but_NO Incest!_ Incest is wrong on so many levels it's not even funny, and incest between to brothers with a ten year age gap... #sticks finger down throat to show thought of that#

The only time I'll ever let incest slide is if the two involved aren't aware of the fact that they're sibs. Ex: Luke and Leia in Star Wars episode four. Not here. Okay, done ranting now.Ja Ne once again.

PPS: I've gotten complaints (already) about how I'm handling the timeline and wheter or not Itachi would do this that and the other. All I've got to say is: IT'S A FRIKIN' FIC PEOPLE! I'm changing the story and the characters! Itachi is going to be wildly different from the series Itachi and so is Sasuke due to what I've done here! Deal with it. I'm not going to change the fic because you don't like this that and the other. If you have legit complaint, like the age gap, which is seven, not five nor ten years, I'll work with that. And no, I'm not changing the title; I like the this one. Again, deal.

Apologies to any who are horridly offended, but this will stand as they are.


	2. A Day In the Life of the Brothers

A.N.: Since I haven't seen a mention of other family members outside of Mother/Father/Brothers, I'm going to add a few uncles and aunts for 'Tachi and Sasu. If anyone #couch# Gman #cough# has any _RE-LI-AB-LE_ info on the Uchiha family, I'd welcome it. My resources are limited, my time and money even more so.

I've gone off of manga-based data for the most part as well as my own conclusions. The furor that was caused earlier with my assumption on age was caused by that. The manga is sketchy on Itachi's age, so I guess based on appearance during the flashback scene. Sasuke _looked_ six-ish and Itachi _looked_ sixteen-ish, so that's what I guessed them to be. I mean, c'mon, Itachi is adult size in the flashback and Sasuke is definitely a chibi. Without an age reference, is that really such an erroneous guess?

One further thing: _NO HOT GAY BROTHER MONKEY SEX!_ I do not believe in incest, it's just sick and wrong and _I ain't doin' it!_ Not to mention the ages here, yeah I'm going to be jumping forward six years but they're still going to be nineteen and twelve! 19 and 12 people! Nope, no, nu-uh, nada, iie, ain't goin' there, you can _FORGET ABOUT IT!_ The only hot gay monkey sex that's going to happen is going to be between Sasuke and N-

Oops, almost let out a spoiler there… Well enjoy! And don't yell at me for honest mistakes! I'm only half-human, yeesh!

* * *

Kakashi sighed and stretched slightly as he walked down the street heading towards the Hokage's office. He did _not_ relish the idea of reporting the fact that a thirteen-year-old boy, however skilled, had escaped from him and his team. The fact that said boy had also successfully kidnapped his younger brother only made the situation worse, since the child had been an evident handicap.

He passed into the Uchiha dominated part of town, so declared by the Uchiha family crest designs everywhere, and mulled over the other implications of the event. _Hmm, maybe I won't be in as much trouble as I thought, _he admitted to himself as he watched the Uchiha's scurrying about with troubled looks, each and every one of them. _If the Uchiha's hadn't even been aware of the escape, then how can I, an 'inferior', be held accountable for letting them go?_

He continued to head in and had to pass by the house of the clan head, the house that Itachi and young Sasuke had fled from. There was a _very_ large commotion there, for _some_ odd reason that _completely_ escaped Kakashi. _Not. I'd have to be quarter-witted deaf-mute to not understand why the people here are a_ trifle_ upset._

Fugaku was standing outside his house, stone-faced, with his wife Mikoto beside him, weeping silently. Fugaku's half-brother, Akira, was reading from a letter that Kakashi guessed that Fugaku had given him; a letter that was apparently upsetting in content. Kakashi couldn't hear what was being said yet, and was almost tempted to use his Sharingan eye to assist in reading Akira's lips. Almost. He wasn't suicidal. Even if his eye was a gift, it still wasn't naturally his and the clan _deeply_ resented his having it.

A resentment that was demonstrated yet again as he paused at the edge of the crowd to listen. Poisonous glares were sent his way frequently as he listened to an equally poisonous tirade against the clan. Kakashi guessed that he was listening to Itachi's views about the Uchiha clan, a guess that was compounded as Mikoto wept more and more fervently with each verbal attack.

"'And so I am taking Sasuke with me, not that you, so-honored Father and so-honored Mother, will notice save that your 'replacement' of me is no longer available. Worry not for his sake, if you even can, I shall place no harm upon him. Unlike the rest of you 'marvelous' Uchiha's, Sasuke is innocent and worthy of care and respect, care and respect that was not forthcoming here at 'home'. Perhaps, in time, I may even bring him back to show you what it was you scorned. But only if Sasuke himself desires it; I will not be the _hypocrite_ you are to claim to take him for his safety and happiness and then disregard his wishes. Fare you well, or not. I care little which.

Your _former _Son,

Itachi'"

_My, my; so that was the base of it. Interesting._ Kakashi thought as he moved on. He'd known of course that Itachi was less than impressed with his family, but he hadn't been aware that the resentment went so deep. The young Anbu was fully able to read between the lines, and what he read there was a load of contempt, scorn and hate that defied the perception people normally had for thirteen-year-olds. Itachi was amazing however, mature beyond his years. So perhaps this mature view of his clan wasn't so incredible after all.

What was incredible was that the only 'harm' that he had done in leaving was in taking Sasuke with him and then only attacking those pursuers that had attacked first. _Given the level of hate in that letter, I'm surprised he didn't go on a murderous rampage; _Kakashi though, half in jest.

He paused for a moment outside the Central Office Building to give that idea further thought and couldn't bring himself to entirely dismiss it. _Itachi was certainly capable of it, even against other Uchiha's. And if he had that level of _Anger,_ he had the motive. _And_ he sometimes spoke of wanting to test his abilities in full…_

Kakashi shuddered for a moment, realizing that a mere kidnapping was probably something that they should be grateful for. _Maybe I'm jumping at shadows, but if what I've deduced is right and Itachi and Sasuke have never received love save maybe from each other, then Konoha got off _damned_ lucky. Someone who doesn't know love is someone who is capable of anything, because he has nothing of real value to loose._

Kakashi gave another shrug and moved into the building to report his actual and theoretical observations and then leave the case in the Hokage's hands. Again, that was all he could do at this point. Aside from pray; pray that the two brothers were finding that needed love and respect in each other. For if not…_ I really need to find a good book to read after all this, my thoughts are getting morbid and depressing. There was that one book that looked interesting, what was it called? 'Icha Icha Paradise' or something like that?

* * *

_

Six Years Later

Focus: The Missing Uchiha Brothers

Sasuke was in pain; his eyes itched, his jaw ached and his limbs throbbed; all in the effort to _not_ go cross-eyed, yawn and/or fidget in extreme boredom. All this, because the current employer of Sasuke and his elder brother, Itachi, was an absolute moron without the mental capacity to know when to shut the hell up.

_I so cannot wait until he's no longer our employer, then I can flip him off. Gotta keep that in mind; if I flip him off now, we don't get paid for having to put up with him. I just have to be patient and wait. _The fat merchant continued to blather on about how the attack had not gone _completely_ according to plan; _oh please._ And on, and on, and for a change of pace, on some more!

_Oh. My. Gods. I had no notion that anyone could be this _annoying

""_How are you doing, chibi?""_ A familiar voice said in the youth's mind.

""_Fine, I think"" _Sasuke replied via Ishindenshin no Jutsu, or Art of Telepathy, _""Can I kill this guy after we get paid? Please? And don't call me 'chibi'""_

A mental chuckle answered that half-serious plea, _""No, I'm afraid you can't. It would look bad if every idiotic employer we had died suddenly after the job was done. In spite of the good it would do for the gene pool.""_

""_Oh phooey,"" _Sasuke said back, _""Can I at least make his life miserable? Pretty please?""_ The request was accompanied by a sideways Sad-Puppy-Look. Sasuke knew his brother was rather weak against this particular technique. Itachi met the look and heaved a purely mental sigh; the younger brother still wasn't certain how the elder did that.

""_Alright, fine,"" _Itachi relented, _""Just don't get caught.""_

Sasuke had to catch himself from snorting his derision aloud at the sheer thought that _he_ would get caught at something so minor. The brothers returned their attention to the blathering idiot whose trade caravans had been raided by minor rouge Nin's recently. Or at least, they had until the rouge Uchiha brothers had broken the minor Nin's heads in.

The two brothers were now able to demand higher wages than they first had, due to the fact that Sasuke was now of an age where he was recognized as Genin, apprentice level. At first, it had been a lot harder. No one wanted to hire a thirteen-year-old boy with a six-year-old child in tow, no matter how skilled the teenager claimed he was.

The two had had to rough it in the first couple of years, foraging the woods and fields for food, even stealing at times. Then, as Itachi grew older, another problem developed. Rouge Nin's had a hard time getting reputable employers who requested reasonable, i.e.: not illegal, work. Itachi didn't want to assassinate someone just because he was a commercial competitor.

But no one wanted to hire him to do that anyway, again because he had a kid brother in tow. It took him a while to figure out how to market himself, and how to market Sasuke as an asset instead of a hindrance.

Then he stumbled upon bodyguard work. He could hire himself out as a cheaper guard than the reliable Village-bound Nin's, but still as trustworthy as they. Didn't he have a healthy, active child attached to him? Wasn't that child devoted to him and happy to be with him? After that, the Uchiha brothers began to make a name for themselves; or rather, _Itachi_ made a name for _himself_. Now, at ages nineteen and twelve, the two could hire themselves out as a working pair and could demand appropriately higher wages.

That was probably the reason that the fat, foolish merchant was going on at length about how they had deviated from the plan; he was trying to make a point from which he could drop their wage. _Idiot, it's not going to work, not with us._

If they were such great Ninjas, the man complained, why couldn't they have accomplished everything according to plan? _Spare me…_ They had been so highly recommended, he wouldn't have paid them nearly so high a commission if he'd known they weren't perfect. _Hah! You _did not_ pay all that high a commission and everyone knows that there's no such thing as perfection; that's a know fact of life dimwit._ Perhaps thing would have gone better if Itachi hadn't _insisted_ on including his less _useful_, _little_ brother in the counter attack._ Warning, warning; do not bash younger brother in the presence of the over-protective older brother. Major bad idea there genius._

"Forgive me sir," Itachi interrupted, "I'm afraid that your exalted position has given you a false view of the real world. It is commonly known that even the best-laid plans are set to the side once the enemy has been engaged. After all, we can only hypothesis as to what the enemy is going to do. We were indeed very fortunate that so much did go as we wished, and that we captured the bandits with so few injuries on our side and only one death on theirs. The objective has been achieved. Now if you'd be so kind as to give us our agreed upon pay, we will take our leave and get out of your hair."

The merchant, who had been gaping like a landed fish at being _interrupted_ by a _hireling_, turned a furious glare at Itachi at the end of the last sentence. The man's shiny pate was completely hairless, but he couldn't actually claim that Itachi had insulted him simply because what the Nin had said was a commonly used phrase.

But the glare was utterly ineffective, Itachi just returned the glare with a bland stare that had thus far never failed to intimidate. _I have got to learn how he does that_. The merchant gulped, then gestured for the brothers to turn around while he opened the safe. They obliged him with much amusement. _Bravo Einstein, putting a glass-face portrait on the opposite wall in just the right place to reflect the combination lock._

Finally they saw him toss a small sack onto the desk between them, but made sure not to start to turn around until they heard the jangle of coins. Itachi made a small show of pouring out the coins and counting them carefully. When the fool blustered over this, the elder brother, oh so innocently, protested that he thought all mercenaries did this; just to be safe of course.

The merchant went red-faced with rage, but couldn't protest after that, it was a wise ploy to ensure that you got paid your agreed upon amount after all. After what seemed like far too long a time the Uchiha brothers were finally able to take their leave of the obnoxious person. They bowed their way out, Sasuke proceeding Itachi. The older teen had a good reason for doing things that way.

When he was just in the doorway of the merchant's office, he paused to cast a look back over his shoulder.

"I feel that it would be wise to advise you," He said softly, causing the merchant to glare up at him. The paper-pusher had thought he was finally rid of these annoying people! "When one is complaining about another person, it is wise to ensure that that person's close family isn't present." Itachi blinked and his eyes went from jet black to blood red, and continued his warning. "It isn't healthy otherwise." he growled.

The merchant fell back in his overstuffed chair, shuddering in sudden mortal terror as Itachi glared over his shoulder for a full thirty seconds before continuing.

The Nin suddenly closed his eyes and gave a fake, sunny smile, "Have a pleasant day." He 'chirped', then walked out. The merchant later would not be able to say which expression had been worse, the death glare, or the 'happy' mask that did nothing to cover up the bloodlust. Itachi had a truly frightening smile.

* * *

Outside, Sasuke was waiting patiently for his brother to join him. _He really is turning out well, _Itachi thought. _ I was afraid that in taking him to save him, I would only succeed in ruining his childhood. I have no idea how I avoided that._

Sasuke gave a soft, genuine smile when he saw his brother, then sniffed exaggeratedly back at the merchant's manse.

"What are you doing?" Itachi sighed.

"Huh, you either must have gone easier on the idiot than you usually do, or that fool was tougher than I thought." Sasuke said, looking up at his brother, "The smell of urine isn't as strong as I thought it'd be."

The older brother shook his head, chuckling almost silently. He gave the youth one of his rare, real smiles, which made the boy beam in happiness. Few people other than Sasuke would have even been able to tell that Itachi had smiled at all, since the expression involved only the minutest up-curve of the mouth, but more warmth in the eyes.

But Sasuke had grown entirely used to Itachi's seeming lack of normal emotions and had learned to read the signs of his brother's emotional state. The elder Uchiha brother had learned how to feel normal emotions over the course of the six years, but still had trouble _expressing _them. Not that it was a real problem for Sasuke, the near-teen had become incredibly adept at reading people in general and Itachi in specific.

_One more thing for me to be proud over him about._ "We have plenty of spare time today, do you want to go to the place where we can train?" Presenting a puppy with a new toy would have had a less dramatic effect. Yes, Sasuke did want to train and could he hurry up so that they could do it _now?_ Itachi chuckled again as his kid brother carefully did _not _pull him along to get to the training grounds. The fact that this job had ended in a city that they were familiar with was part of the reason that Itachi had accepted the job.

Eight hours later revealed the other reason. Sasuke had put in six hours of concentrated effort and had progressed quiet well, Itachi was proud of the boy all over again. But the effort the near-teen had exerted had exhausted him; which is what Itachi had hoped for.

The young adult still had enough of an edge over his younger brother that he merely felt a little tired, as if he had put in a decent day's work. That was just fine. The two had gone to an inn that they had slept in many times before and had reserved their usually room. Upon reaching it, Sasuke had flopped onto the bed and passed out. Perfect.

Itachi put their few things away, closed up the room then proceeded out into the city after giving the innkeeper an acknowledging nod. The innkeeper returned the nod and the elder brother went on his way confident that Sasuke would be watched over by the man and his prolific family. This meant that Itachi didn't have to worry about his brother getting into trouble, or coming after him.

Not that the latter would be a _problem_, mind, it was just that… One didn't take one's twelve-year-old brother with you to a whorehouse! A very particular whorehouse in fact, one with a tenacious reputation for its dedication to cleanliness, but still a whorehouse

Itachi entered the lobby and met the wary gaze of the proprietor, Sakura-Kaa-san. Her establishment, The House of the Night Blossom Tree, used to be the place she sold her favors from, as her still-handsome looks would contest to. She had inherited the name Sakura when she had inherited the House from the previous Sakura.

Itachi didn't know anything about the previous owner, but the current one was very smart, and exceptionally observant.

"Orchid will be free in a few minutes, Itachi-kun, if you're willing to wait." She said respectfully when she noticed that Itachi was a little on the tired side. The two Lady's he favored were the languid yet thorough Orchid and the energetic and inventive Apple Blossom. Itachi didn't have the energy that night to humor Apple Blossom, which would disappoint the Lady greatly.

The women here were pro's pros, they didn't take favorites normally. Itachi was a favorite; he was as concerned with his bed partner's satisfaction as he was with his own. This had the effect of making the Lady's work even harder to show their appreciation, but surely Itachi hadn't known that they'd do that, right?

Well, whatever; when the exotic Orchid saw whom it was that she would serve next, her face lit up with a quiet smile, while Apple Blossom pouted as discreetly as she could, which wasn't very. Itachi promised that he'd be back in a few days, then followed Orchid up the stairs to the small rooms where the Lady's served their customers. It turned into a very pleasant night for them both .

* * *

When Ninja mercenaries went looking for work, it was often difficult to find. Work usually found them, and the more famous, or infamous, your name, the more often you had clients. Still, it was always useful to keep your ear to the ground for rumors of a job that needed doing that may suit you talents.

So when Sasuke heard a rumor over breakfast that a man need a skilled bodyguard or two, but needed trustworthy ones above all else, he stretched his ears to take in every detail he could to take to his brother. He _had _to take the information to his brother, instead of his brother getting it for himself, because Itachi was still in bed; an unusual state of affairs since it was usually Sasuke who would laze about in the morning.

But the event of Sasuke getting up before Itachi did happen sometimes, and more often in this village than out. The younger brother had his suspicions as to why this happened, and he planned to confirm it soon, but… If it was what he thought it was, then it really wasn't his business beyond that.

Sasuke finished his breakfast, thanked the waitress, the young adult daughter of the innkeeper with her eye latched on Itachi; and trotted up the back stairs to the guest rooms. Sasuke tapped on the closed door to insure that if Itachi was in the midst of changing, he could warn his little brother off before Sasuke barged in. A vague grunt answered the pre-teen's tap.

_Still asleep? Must have been quite a night for him!_ Sasuke poked his head in and watched as Itachi grabbed the spare pillow so he could hide his head under it. The younger Uchiha brother cast a wry glance out the tiny window to judge the hour and glared fiercely at the prone form of what was _supposed_ to be his role model. _It's two hours to midday! Even I'm not this lazy! It's more than time for my dear brother to be up and at least semi-coherent._

Sasuke cocked his head as he regarded the problem his brother presented. Past experiences had revealed that when Itachi did not want to get up, he _did not want to get up_. It could become a bit of a hassle rousing him, a hassle the younger Uchiha would rather avoid right now, thank you!

Itachi was laying sprawled face down, one arm hugging one pillow, the other arm holding the second pillow over his head to block out the little sunlight that made it through the dinky window.

Everything about the room was dinky, except the bed, but that was standard in the common inns that the two could afford. Even floor space was at a premium, let alone bed space. It was a measure of the innkeeper's fondness for the two brothers that they got the small room to themselves and that the bed they shared would easily hold four people, making it very comfortable for two.

But that was the heart of the current problem; the large bed took up perhaps seventy-five to eighty percent of the room, making Itachi's removal from it difficult. _So perhaps it'd be best if I found another way to rouse him._ Sasuke grinned mischievously; Itachi's feet were sticking out from under his blanket, and he wasn't wearing socks. No one aside from Sasuke knew that the fearsome ex-Konoha Anbu was exceedingly ticklish…

Five minutes later found an exceedingly_ grumpy_ Itachi wide awake, sitting on top of his little brother, arms crossed over his chest, grousing.

"C'mon, lemme up!" Sasuke said, trying not to eat bed sheet, which was hard in his position, "I could have found a worse way to wake you up, ya' know!"

"You could have not woken me up in the first place!" Itachi growled down at his brother. Sasuke was in the position his elder brother had been in, sprawled face down on the bed. The big difference was that Itachi hadn't had a person half again his own weight sitting in the middle of his back pressing him down.

"Yeah but then, umble-mumble…." The younger Uchiha tried to say as the bed sheets partly stifled him.

"What was that?" Itachi asked, mildly curious in spite of himself. His blood was beginning to flow at a less lethargic rate now.

"Lemme up and I tell- umf!" Sasuke managed. Deciding that the boy had been punished enough, the young adult reluctantly got off of his current seat. Sasuke sat up, turned his back to his brother, stuck out his chin and lower lip and turned stubborn. Here he was, trying to give his brother important news and he wound up being _sat_ on! How's that for gratitude!

Itachi let out an exasperated sigh; he could tell where this was going. "I let you up as you asked, now what was so important that you had to- had to-_tickle_ me awake?" the elder brother's lips twisted in distaste, he hated the fact that he was ticklish, and hated the fact that Sasuke would exploit that trait at times even more.

"I don't know that I want to tell you now." Sasuke growled, crossing his arms over-dramatically across his chest. He could feel Itachi watching him with narrowed eyes, plotting something… and tensed his muscles ready to move. He was right to do that, but it didn't help him any. Just as Sasuke got ready to leap away, Itachi pounced, grabbing at the younger boy's arms, making him yelp in surprise.

Sasuke was able to partly squirm away, keeping one arm free. He reached for one of the pillows so he could beat Itachi with it, but was forced to continuously dart his arm out of the older sib's reach as the ex-Anbu tried to pin him down.

"Enough of this, Sasuke!" the older Uchiha said, and ducked under the pillow that the younger had managed to grab, "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's so Gods-damned important!"

"And I'm not telling you until you let me go! Ha!" Sasuke successfully managed to bap Itachi in the side of is face, which startled him into loosing his grip with a yelp of his own. The younger sib scouted back across the bed and managed to turn around to face his brother and defend himself against the pillow Itachi now wielded. Itachi whapped, Sasuke blocked and found himself partly pinned with his brother's knee on his chest.

"Tell me!" Itachi warned, involuntarily almost-grinning.

"Nu-uh!" Sasuke responded, fighting down what was _not_ a giggle. Uchiha's didn't giggle; they chuckled, laughed, chortled and even cackled. They did not _giggle._ But the not-giggle partly escaped in a snicker as the light quarrel turned into an all out pillow-fight until-

"Are we having fun?" a mature woman's voice drawled wearily from the partly open door. Leaning against the door frame was the innkeeper's wife, veteran mother of five energetic boys of her own. She was neither impressed nor intimidated by the Uchiha's prowess in battle; when they were in her establishment, they were just another couple of rambunctious boys, just with a touch more dignity that made them easier to control.

Sasuke struggled to hold down a full-out laugh as Itachi froze as he stared in shock at the woman with his pillow still raised to whap Sasuke, turning beet-red in humiliation. "Yes ma'am, we'll stop now. Sorry for disturbing you." The younger brother managed to say.

"Whatever, just don't burst my pillows unless you're ready to replace them." She said, giving both of them The Look that all successful mothers everywhere develop to control their offspring, or any other young person in their presence.

"Yes ma'am, we understand, ma'am." Sasuke said humbly.

"Very well," She said, moving on her way with her bundle of linens. Sasuke worked his way out from underneath his still-frozen brother and lost his fight against the humor of the situation. He hunched over, laughing silently as Itachi slowly un-froze.

The elder sib glared at the younger and whapped him lightly with his pillow.

"Now, now," Sasuke laughed, "you don't want to start that again and bring her back now do you?" He fell over onto his back, laughing helplessly as Itachi turned red again.

"Are you entirely done yet?" the elder brother growled. Sasuke shook his head as he curled up on his side laughing so hard that he made no noise aside from breathless gasps for air. Itachi sat himself down at the far corner of the bed, sourly waiting for Sasuke to regain control of himself.

"Now," he said as Sasuke went from convulsive laughter to normal hard laughter to the sporadic breathless chuckle, "what was it that you were trying to tell me earlier?"

"Job- #snicker# -heard about it- #chuckle# -down stairs- #snigger#."

"And why couldn't you tell me about this in the first place?"

Sasuke rolled onto to his back to look up at his brother. "Because you were asleep and didn't want to wake up!" He laughed softly. Itachi snorted and reclined to lay belly down next to his brother while leaning on his elbows.

"Alright, fair enough," he admitted, looking down at his brother. "What can you tell me about this job?" Sasuke complied, propping himself up on his elbows to look at his brother more evenly. The pre-teen had done a remarkable job and relayed the information he had like a pro. He stated clearly that what he had heard was rumor, who he had overheard talking about it and finally the rumors themselves.

This was more than enough information for Itachi to be intrigued. "Lets head down and see if these knowledgeable gentlemen are still here, shall we?"

"Sure." Sasuke agreed, hopping off the bed. The two headed back downstairs and Itachi had breakfast while talking with the individuals that his brother ID'ed for him. The three in question were people that the brothers had seen before and Itachi had actually worked with one of them, and so knew that one at least to be trustworthy.

The more details that Itachi received, the more he wanted to look into this job. Apparently there was a rich man with a pretty, young, reclusive daughter who wanted a bodyguard or two to keep himself and his daughter safe while they traveled to some unspecified location. So far, no one who had been interviewed had succeeded, but the people who _had_ been interviewed were nowhere near the same category as the Uchiha brothers.

"Thank you gentlemen for your time." Itachi said politely while he finished eating. The innkeeper's daughter came and cleared away the dishes, making doe-eyes at the elder brother, which he ignored. "I hope you three aren't interested in this potential job?"

One of the men laughed, "Heck fire no! Look at us, we ain't in the same noble class as this feller's s'pposed to be in, but you twain are." The other two men smiled ruefully, and without malice. "Na, we know our place, an' we know that when some high-class gent's lookin' fer guards, he's lookin' for somthin' near his own class."

"Not that we b'grudge ya that." Another of the men said, "Nay, you two's alright. You may be noble-class, by ye don't put on airs like some o' them will." Itachi sat back, taken a little by surprise and unexpectedly touched. He knew that the ladies were fond of him, but he hadn't known that he and Sasuke had the respect of the working men as well.

He cleared his throat self-consciously, "Well, uh, thanks?" He cleared his throat again and glared at Sasuke who was smirking at his discomfort. The other men chuckled while Sasuke ducked in mock fear. "Anyway, I think we'll take our leave, thank you again." The men waved him on kindly and went back to their beers. _Although how they can stand alcohol so early in the day I will never know._

"What are you grinning at?" He growled down at his brother when they walked out into the street. Sasuke turned wide, innocent eyes on him. _Innocent… Bull…_

"Why, nothing Nii-san. Why would I be smiling about anything?" The pre-teen responded. Itachi snorted his disbelief, but decided to leave it.

"So, what do you think?" No need to state about what.

"I think that they were definitely retelling what they heard as accurately as possible." Sasuke said, "They believe that they were telling the truth as well." Itachi nodded; he sometimes had trouble gauging the emotions of others and relied upon Sasuke to read people for him. The elder brother hadn't been let down thus far, what Sasuke read was accurate, and if he had trouble reading someone he said so.

"Do you want to look into this job?" Itachi never forced Sasuke into anything if he could help it, and they didn't _need_ to take a job just yet, but it was always a good idea to take what they could when it was available.

"I think we should look into it." The younger brother said thoughtfully, "We can always refuse, and we just might be refused ourselves."

The older brother nodded, then flinched as he felt an all-too-familiar sensation. It was the sensation of the prey being sized up by the predator, hoping for an ambush. Sasuke noticed the flinch.

"What-?"

"You know, I'd forgotten about those two!" Itachi said nervously, casting a frantic glance over his shoulder. The younger Uchiha glanced back as well and started to walk more quickly when he saw what, or rather _who_, was making his brother nervous.

"How in the Nine Hells did you forget about _them_?" He yelped. The elder Uchiha started to move quickly as well.

"Well, you know, that whole selective memory thing?"

"Yeah, right, great…"

"_Itachi-Sama!_" Cried out one love-stricken young woman.

"_Sasuke-kun!_" Cried out her equally love-stricken younger sister.

"I'll be running now." Itachi stated calmly, matching action to words.

"Right behind you." Sasuke stated with equal calmness as he too ran at near-top speed away from the two village girls who had decided that the Uchiha brothers were their soul mates. Needless to say, the brothers didn't agree with them. The long time residents who had seen this before lined up near the road to watch and began to take bets on whether or not the sisters would catch the brothers this time around. From the looks of things, this was a well established past time. The brothers didn't agree with _that_ either!

* * *

A.S.: Authors Notes 1: I know, _I know!_ The bros are WAY Out Of Character. But note Exhibit A: the difference in the childhood. Technically, Itachi still counts as a child at age thirteen, and Sasuke definitely was at age six. Both left the village and relied on each other for company. This is known; what I haven't yet described is how people behave when they are around those who genuinely enjoy each other's company.

In my made up world here, Itachi sincerely wanted Sasuke around him, and Sasuke sincerely wanted to be around Itachi, compare this to the series timeline. Itachi goes off and joins Akastsuki, Sasuke is seen as the Uchiha massacre survivor, not Sasuke-the-kid. Believe me, who you're with and how they view does affect how you act if this condition lasts long enough. I use myself as an example; I hung out with a person who hung out with quasi-law-breakers. My behavior did change a little when I was with her because she and her group viewed those who obey the law and _like_ cops as unworthy of respect. I changed back when I disassociated with her and hung out with my law-abiding friends more.

Compare this story with Itachi, who's to say that he wasn't associating with Akastsuki a bit even before the massacre? In my world this clearly doesn't happen and he hung out with the law-_respecting_ Sasuke the most. Thus…. Well, I hope that came across coherently.

As for Sasuke, he's hanging out with his older brother who is unable to easily express affection, but would respond to Sasuke's expressions. So, my way of think on this is, Itachi would not only accept Sasuke acting expressively, he'd_ encourage_ it by responding positively to Sasuke initiating an exchange.

This kind of encouragement, starting at age six and continuing for six-plus years _would _have the effect of altering behavior, of that I have no doubt. And touching back on Itachi, for Sasuke's sake he's going to try and alter his own behavior, and Sasuke is going to encourage him by responding positively to any show of positive emotion. I know it sounds like I'm thinking about this too much, but that's because I am. I'm trying to make all of this sound plausible, and that requires thought.

A.S. Author Comments: Tee-hee-hee, I am so evil…

Itachi: Yes you are! Now will you give me that Gods damned crowbar already!

A.S.: Yes, yes, fine! Here you are. #Hands Itachi a crow-bar which he first uses to try and pry psycho-lady off, then uses it to beat her with# #snicker# anyway, I hope you all had as much fun with this chapter as I did. Sasuke and Itachi having a pillow fight… now that's something you don't see ever day!

Sasuke: For good reason. Nii-san are you done with that crowbar yet?

Itachi: Erk! Not quite!

A.S.: #snigger# Movin' on, I'm still ridiculously busy, and only likely to get busier. I need to get good grades this semester and, um, so far not happening! Heh-heh…

Sasuke: Slacker.

A.S.: Yeah, well… Next chapter will hopefully come out some time next month if things go well, but if it's late, don't worry. I _like_ this story line, I will continue it. I have four other fics that deserve my attention and I work by which one is in line for an update next. This fic just go an update, so it's last in line for its turn. Weelp, until next time!

'Tachi & Sasu: _Will you make these freak-women disappear already?_

A.S.: Fine, fine, ruin my fun….


	3. A Disconcerting Job

Chapter 3

9-12-06

A.N: Gomen about the late update, check out bottom authors notes for the many reasons.

(bar thingys have been MIA for a while now...)

_That was a good work out,_ Itachi thought as he sat back against a tree at the edge of the grounds he and Sasuke used to spar in. Sasuke was sprawled belly down in the shade next to him. The run from the dreaded Fan-Girls had been a good warm-up. But the job interview had been frustrating.

The rich lord had been rather vague as to whether or not he was interested in hiring the Uchiha brothers. Itachi supposed that this was better than a flat out refusal, which is what all the other hopefuls had gotten, but the dithering was still frustrating. A mercenary couldn't afford to hang around on a 'maybe'. If another job was offered them, they'd have to take it.

The brothers had bills to pay, the innkeeper and his family might like the Uchiha brothers, but that liking wasn't going to extend to free lodging. Similarly, food, clothing, weapons and medicines were not offered for free, some trade had to be made for these things, and money was the most commonly accepted return.

_We may have a stash of money, but that's not going to last forever, and I truly hesitate to dip into our savings in anything other than an emergency. Oh, wait, guild fees are due soon aren't they? Crap._

Most occupations had a unifying guild that spanned the nations and the Mercenaries Guild was one of them. Joining the guild did a number of things and one of these was that the badge acted as a voucher that the member would act honestly. The number of jobs that the Uchiha brothers were offered after they had gotten their badges had increased dramatically.

If either brother screwed up in a less than honest way, the guild would pay for damages, then take it out on the hide of the screw-up. On the flip side, if the brothers were screwed over by an employer, all they needed to do was point this out to the guild, and _they _would be the ones repaid while the employer was left whimpering. If either brother was captured, the guild would ransom them, and if things truly went sour, the brothers could recoup for a few days at any guild head-quarters.

But to be given these things, they had to pay quarterly fees. Itachi thought it a fair trade since the guilds would also shelter them from Konoha's wrath, so long as things remained as they were, with the Uchiha's merely being runaways. The fact that the guild fees weren't outrageous also helped.

Itachi and Sasuke were mercenaries with a good reputation, it was actually in the guild's interest to keep the brothers safe. If customers saw that the guild supported such reputable individuals, the guild would look better as a consequence and would get more customers itself.

Itachi glanced over at his younger brother and noticed that Sasuke was dozing. Soldier reflex, get sleep when you can where you can. The elder Uchiha reentered his musings, waiting for one hour before sunset when he and Sasuke were due back at the mansion.

He kind of hoped that they'd get the job. Not only was it good pay, there was something a little off, not wrong per se, but… Itachi had a hard time resisting mysteries, sometimes to his grief. His love of mysteries was the reason he'd dug into the Uchiha clan's past, and found out how dishonorable the clan was.

If what he'd found was just the occasional 'bad egg' that became the shame of the clan at that time, he wouldn't have minded. All ancient noble clans had its dark stains, it was a given. But the frequency of those 'bad eggs', and the way the clan would cover it up and let the 'bad egg' continue being bad… Itachi wasn't able to stomach that.

So he'd made the mistake of complaining about it to his father. _He received that complaint well, I still have the scars. _Itachi had been ten at the time and thus was spared from being punished further. But he had been completely disillusioned, and thus had started his drift away from the rest of the clan and his total hatred of the glory chasers. Not that he'd been able to show it, thanks to his emotionless conditioning only one person had even noticed that Itachi was discontent.

_Well, to be more honest, two._ But Sasuke had been too young to really understand what was wrong, aside from the fact that Itachi was unhappy, and that he, Sasuke, wanted to make him feel better.

Itachi rested his hand on his brother's head for a moment, and smiled inwardly at the happy sigh that came from the action.

But the only adult /near-adult who had noticed that something was really wrong with Itachi was Shisui. _I wish he hadn't noticed, gods how I wish he'd been as blind as the rest. _Shisui had asked time and again what was wrong with his younger friend and Itachi had hinted again and again that there was something wrong with the clan as a whole, but had never said it in so many words. His father had forbidden him from speaking about what he'd discovered.

Unfortunately, Shisui misinterpreted the hints; he thought that Itachi hated the clan, period. They still remained friends of a kind, but there was a rift between them that hurt terribly, especially for Itachi. He didn't have a single other friend and only Sasuke to care for. The estrangement between him and Shisui was extremely painful to him.

It was perhaps even more unfortunate that the other Uchiha had seen that Itachi was hurting, because he kept coming back to try and understand why his slightly younger friend was so discontent with the clan. But this usually led to some kind of argument. The worst argument came a bit over two years after Itachi had delved into the clan record. It had happened on the night before Shisui and his team left for a high rank mission; another star to add to the clan banner.

It had been a horrible fight, with a great deal of emotional pain and terrible misunderstanding on both sides. Once again, Shisui couldn't understand why Itachi wasn't as proud of the clan as he was. And once again, Itachi was frustrated by the fact that his slightly older friend couldn't get the hint that there was more going on than he could say.

They had finally parted after many harsh words, neither wanting to go further than they already had, but neither admitting error. At the time, Itachi was glad that his friend was going on a mission, it would give them both time to think about what was said and to cool their tempers. But a few days later he'd found out how wrong he was to be thankful for that mission.

Itachi squeezed his eyes shut and focused on regulating his breathing, even after all the years that had passed, this memory was still painful.

Shisui's team had come back, horribly wounded, and dragging Shisui's mangled body with them. The mission they had gone on had not only been high rank, but high risk. And Shisui had been fatally distracted.

Everyone, _everyone_ but the very youngest in the Uchiha clan blamed Itachi squarely for Shisui's death, after all if they hadn't fought, Shisui the Mirage wouldn't have been distracted. And he had been, the remaining members of the deceased's team reported it. Shisui had been melancholy and unfocused, often lost so deep in thought that he was caught by surprise by his teammates many times. So the team pointed their fingers at Itachi as the cause, and the rest agreed in blaming him.

But no one blamed him more than he blamed himself. _Even now, even now, seven years later, the memory of his death hurts this much._ Itachi could clearly remember the funeral. It had been overcast all day, perfectly suiting the elder brother's mood. Every adult had been shooting him poisonous looks for daring to attend, but Itachi had wanted to pay his respects to the young man he'd loved like an elder brother.

He had stayed after the service and after everyone else but Sasuke had left, loss and pain tearing him apart inside, but he being unable to shed a tear thanks to his conditioning-

-so Sasuke had cried for him, pressed against his leg the entire time, clinging to his hand.

The young 'genius' had just stood there staring at the headstone for the longest time, one thought finally coming clear as he stared. _If he and I hadn't fought, he'd have come back. Shisui would still be alive. It really is my fault he's dead. I'm responsible. _

_I killed my best friend._

Something had snapped painfully inside his head, making him fall to his knees as the skies finally opened up into a downpour. He probably would have stayed there all night for the pain in head and heart if it hadn't been for Sasuke. The youngster had started to beg his brother to come back inside and only the knowledge that the child wouldn't leave him forced Itachi to his feet to lead his brother home.

He had barely made it home, a terrible fever had set in and his mother had sent him straight to bed exclaiming that it was no wonder that he'd gotten ill, staying out in the cold rain as he had. The greater wonder was that Sasuke wasn't as ill. Itachi was bedridden for two days after that, tormented by the fever and horrible migraine headaches that seemed to come from right behind his eyes. On the third day he had risen, still with a throbbing head, but the pain was finally bearable.

Then he'd looked into his bedroom mirror and had stared in confusion and no little fear as his eyes reshaped themselves into a form he couldn't recognize.

The phenomena had only lasted for a few brief seconds, but long enough for Itachi to realize that he wasn't hallucinating. A little careful, secret research in the forbidden clan records reveled what had happened to him.

Mangekyuo Sharingan, a forbidden Sharingan technique that required that the user kill his best friend to unlock it. Because it had such a high price attached to it, it was insanely powerful with no real counter once eye contact had been made. With just a glance he could lock someone in a world of his own making for a few days and torture them until the enemy's mind or body shut down. Commonly fatal, there were very few records of any kind of survivor. Most died instantly, and the rest died in the following days after being attacked with the Mangekyuo's Tsukiyomi illusion world.

_I didn't want it then and I still don't want it now, the price is still too damn high._ After learning what he had gained by assuming responsibility and guilt for Shisui's death, Itachi had seriously considered following his friend in penance. The Hokage's council had ruled that Itachi was genuinely innocent of the accusation of murder. He had no way of knowing that Shisui would behave in so unprofessional a manner as to allow his personal life to affect his work performance. Few in the Uchiha clan agreed with the council and Itachi himself was one of them.

But he couldn't kill himself, there was someone who needed him. Sasuke. It was ridiculous, but Sasuke was deemed tainted by his brother's darkness and was shunned and ridiculed because of it. Itachi was not about to leave his precious little brother to face such hardship by himself, so he therefore had to live. But that didn't mean he would permit himself to benefit from what Shisui's death had given him. After deciding to live, he'd vowed to never use the Mangekyuo.

_Fat lot of good that vow did._ In the years that had followed the brothers' escape from Konoha, various situations had forced Itachi to break that vow, but never for his own sake. But for _Sasuke's_ sake, yes, no vow, no guilt was so great that he would not over come or break it so that Sasuke could prosper.

His little brother had asked, once, what eye technique he had used. One cold glare was all it had taken for Sasuke to drop the subject. _I should explain it to him soon though, he deserves to know and it's been long enough. The pain is… more bearable now._ But- not now.

Now, they had a secondary interview to get to. Itachi shook himself out of his memories and tapped Sasuke's shoulder to wake him. His younger brother stretched like a cat before rising, yawning and blinking in a way that would have set the Fan-Girls to squealing. Itachi just snorted and set off for the mansion of their maybe-future-employer, letting Sasuke wake himself up on the walk there.

(Oh where, oh where have the bar thingys gone, oh where, oh where could they be?)

Sasuke stared up at the imposing edifice of the rich man's mansion. Well, semi-imposing; the town was relatively small and while it straddled a few trade routes it was still only well-off instead of rich. Therefore, the houses were of modest size with the mansions being similarly modest.

So Sasuke was unimpressed by the building. What did impress him however was one tiny little fact: it was a rental. _This guy is so rich he can _rent_ a place like this. With that kind of money he can hire a small army, let alone a few measly guards. So why is he being so fussy over who he hires?_

The younger brother knew his older brother had an idea, or three, but Itachi wasn't sharing. The elder Uchiha had an annoying habit of forcing his little brother to figure things out for himself; so Sasuke was attempting to do that right now. But so far, he was coming up empty handed. He knew that there was something subtly not right about the whole situation, especially concerning the daughter, but he couldn't tell what precisely it was. There was nothing _wrong_ and certainly not _evil_, just… off.

Itachi had been pounding on the ornately decorated iron gate the entire time Sasuke was musing, three slams of his fist every two minutes. Finally, a harried and vastly irritated man-servant appeared and glared at them, demanding to know what the heck they were thinking, making such a ruckus.

Itachi responded with his not-glare and calmly stated that they had an appointment with the master an hour before sunset and that since it was ten minutes to that time, could they please be admitted to a place where they could await the master's audience?

The servant gaped, paled at the not-glare and stammered an incoherent welcome and waved for the brothers to follow. _I have got to learn how Nii-san does that,_ Sasuke thought, envious of his brother's not-glare. It worked nearly every single time.

The Uchiha sibs were led to small reception office and were told to wait for a few minutes while the master was informed of their presence. Or at least, that was what Sasuke thought the man-servant said since the Uchiha didn't understand stutter too well. A maid came in a whole thirty seconds later with a tea service, babbled at a patient Itachi and made calf-eyes at him. The older brother toned her out while Sasuke attempted to shoo her away. The not-glare wasn't used because for some bizarre and annoying reason, it didn't work on Fan-Girls. They just took it as an admiring stare and would then become even more annoying.

Finally, the man-servant reappeared, hysterically chased off the maid and introduced the rich man, who sat behind the small, functional desk that was in the room. Once the man-servant and the maid _finally_ left, the master, Torimiya Hiroshino got down to business with only the barest of formalities.

As he had stated in the earlier interview, he needed a few reliable bodyguards to escort himself and his young, pretty daughter to some other, as yet unspecified village. Torimiya-san wasn't expecting trouble, or so he said, but his demeanor revealed quite the opposite. The potential employer was expecting, dreading even, a _lot _of trouble. Which may be the reason he was being so fussy over who he was hiring.

Most of the guards-for-hire in the area were only basic muscle men, not even of Senior Genin level, which was Sasuke's level. There were a few who had some basic shinobi skills, but they were rather pathetic as well. Sasuke only knew of one other person in the area who might have been of a higher level than himself, but that man didn't have the Uchiha's reputation and he wasn't even close to being in _Itachi's_ league.

Which was making Torimiya-san rather nervous. Torimiya-san claimed that he wasn't on any set schedule. His body language stated that he wanted to leave the area as soon as possible, as quietly as possible and to make as much distance as was humanly feasible. But this wasn't adding up with anything else that was being revealed.

Torimiya-san wasn't the kind of man to make enemies; he was a decent human being with a modest share in a prosperous spice trading business. He had been a resident in the area around Hidden Rain, but was of meek enough personality and habit to have not gained any attention. To clarify, he hadn't made any enemies, nor to have raised any attention when he had moved. In point of fact, Torimiya-san was the kind of person who was born into the world without making a ripple, passed through life without a remark and passed out the same way without anyone really noticing.

He should not have been as nervous as he was; there was no logical reason for it. Which left the cause for this nervousness at his daughter's doorstep.

Jessinina, when she had been introduced earlier, had at first seemed to be of the same mold as her father. She was a very quiet, shy and polite young thing, around Sasuke's age. She had a quiet prettiness about her that wouldn't turn any heads, but would leave the impression that she would go through life being admired for her subtle beauty. Her long hair, which had a tendency to fall around her face demurely, was a shade of black that seemed dark violet. Her eyes, when Sasuke finally saw them, were an intense shade of dark blue. She moved with a fluid grace, she had impeccable manners, although she had a forgivable fault of not putting herself forward. She was a perfect young lady of undeniable quality.

_She had one of the highest chakra levels that Sasuke had ever encountered._

Her shyness could more accurately be read as fearful skittishness. Her manners were of a kind that were pounded into young ladies of breeding at a young age, the kind that the ladies in question didn't dare deviate from least they be punished. Her fluid grace was the type that made your eye's slide over her because there was nothing really of note. Her prettiness was unremarkable, and there was no ugliness there to be remarked or remembered either. She never put herself forward so you'd never look at her. _She was trying to hide in plain sight._ And if Sasuke wasn't looking for anomalies, he wouldn't have noticed that.

She was the reason that Torimiya-san was so nervous and wanted to leave. Sasuke was willing to bet a year's worth of earnings on it. But why she had such a high chakra, or why she was so scared as to change her entire demeanor to one of invisibility, he couldn't say. But he was willing to bet three years of earnings that his brother had a damned good idea.

(How much is that bar thingy in the window, the one with the no-wagy tail?)

_I'm willing to bet a year's worth of earnings that this dainty young lady here can no longer be classified as human._ Itachi thought, slanting a glance out of the corner of his eye at Jessinina as she glided into the room to sit at her father's side. _And I'm almost willing to bet that these two aren't even related by blood, or if so, very thinly._ Torimiya-san's features had a 'type' cast to them that spoke of a regional ethnicity. The Fire country 'type' tended to dark hair and eyes, the Wind country 'type' was paler hair and pale eyes. Torimiya-san's 'type' was darkish brown hair and mid- to pale blue colored eyes. Subtly yet significantly different from Jessinina's coloration.

Then there was the chakra level; Torimiya-san didn't have one. Typical civilian. Jessinina's level though… Itachi had sensed its like once, when he had observed the Yondaime's isan, the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. Jessinina's power was the same yet wildly different from that. The Jinchuuriki from Konoha had had a sense of tightly restrained violence to him; Jessinina had a feel of calm serenity hidden inside her.

That feel of serenity is what had thrown him at first, but now, on second observation he pinned the feel of her as that of a Jinchuuriki. She just happened to have a surprisingly peaceful demon locked inside her. So after Torimiya-san finished restating his desire for a guard and the cover-story as to why, Itachi brought the conversation over to the _real_ reason.

"You are less concerned of possible bandits than you are of Hunter-nin, is that not correct, Torimiya-sama?" Itachi stated calmly. Torimiya broke out in a fine sweat. "You are worried that someone may come for your 'daughter' with the desire to use her as a weapon."

"Ho-how?" Torimiya stuttered, looking stunned. Jessinina looked torn between terror and resignation. Sasuke was giving him a 'what the hell are you thinking!' look.

"I have felt a chakra similar to Jessinina-san's once before," he explained, ignoring Sasuke's sharp look, "and one of the similarities between the two that stands out is that nothing really came of the high level. People were highly fearful of the one I saw in the past, but for no reason. He was a harmless little boy." Torimiya looked much calmer now, "Your daughter here seems equally harmless, or should I say, un-inclined to harm?"

"Either would be accurate." The other man said, pulling out a large handkerchief to mop at his face, "Jessi-chan wouldn't harm a fly," he beamed fondly at her, "but try explaining that to the (Mizukage or AmeKage). He wanted to use my sweet girl as a weapon of war. But the boy you're referring to, would that be the child that the Kyuubi bijuu was sealed in?"

Itachi didn't respond, but he was inwardly kicking himself for letting a clue like that slip.

"So you two really are Uchiha, aren't you?" Torimiya said without getting a response.

"And your daughter is a Jinchuuriki." The elder brother finally said. The two men locked eyes for a moment.

"Perhaps… we should start over." Torimiya-san offered.

"I believe that would be wise."

(B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o!)

"Next time you want to kill me, just stab with a kunai instead of trying to give me a heart attack, would you please?" Sasuke yelled as they exited the mansion over two hours later. It was well into evening now, and the mutual interview was final over. The two brothers were heading back to their room, and Sasuke was ranting. "Gods! What the hell were you _thinking?_ Or were you thinking at all?"

"Gomen ototo, I was acting on a hunch." Itachi offered sheepishly. Not that anyone who didn't know him well would notice that he was sheepish.

"No kidding!" The younger brother snapped stalking off ahead of his elder sib. The older Uchiha decided it would be best to let Sasuke steam for a bit and wait until he cooled off. This happened a little sooner than he thought. When they were a block away from the inn, Sasuke paused and half turned to look back at Itachi.

"So, uh, just what _is_ a 'Jinchuuriki'?" He asked. Itachi blinked.

"That's right, I never told you that did I?" The elder Uchiha mused out loud, before waving for his brother to follow, "Come, we need to find a safer place to discuss this." It was Sasuke's turn to blink, but he followed obediently as Itachi made his way to the other edge of town. The wealthy section of the town was near one end, the inn the brothers were staying in was near the middle and the safe place that the two were going was near the river at the opposite end from the wealthy section.

The river that ran near the town had two branches that converged near it. There was the broad, slow branch that was excellent for trade barges, and a fast, rapids choked branch that came down from the mountains a few miles away. It was towards the rapids choked branch that the brothers headed. If you sat near those, you had to be very close to hear anything, so it was difficult to be spied on if you were as perceptive as the two Uchiha were.

"Well?" Sasuke prompted, calmer now that he was going to get answers. Itachi stared at the river for a moment, collecting his thoughts as he watched the moon rise over the distant mountains and high-light the spraying water.

"First off, you recall hearing about the Kyuubi fox demon that nearly destroyed Konoha, correct?"

"Ye-es," the pre-teen answered, "The Yondaime killed it, right?"

"Wrong, the demon proved impossible to kill so it was sealed into a human infant." Sasuke gaped, Itachi nodded and continued, "The infant became a Jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice, and the city was spared. But this only generated another problem. Historically, Jinchuuriki are heavily influence by the demons they harbor, and thus often become dangerously unstable. Further, because they _do_ hold massively powerful demons, they can often wield the demon's power. Do you see where I'm heading with this?"

"People thought that the kid who held the Kyuubi was going to go insane and kill them all with the Kyuubi's power." Sasuke concluded, "But he didn't, and he hasn't right? Or else we'd have heard about it."

"Possibly, but the real reason that the infant hasn't gone berserk is because it was the _Yondaime_ who made the seal." Itachi continued, "That man didn't become Hokage for nothing, he was incredibly powerful and skilled. I had the good fortune to speak with him once and he was a truly brilliant man." The elder brother's eyes grew distant and wistful for a moment and Sasuke waited patiently for him to continue.

He did; "Have you ever heard of the Beast of Stone?"

Sasuke shivered a little, and not because of the cool night air. "Hai,"

"That was another Jinchuuriki. The Village of Stone wanted a strong weapon to use against Konoha, so they made a Jinchuuriki, only… they didn't go about it the right way." Itachi's eyes were still distant, but now hard. "I only read accounts of the battle with the thing, but the accounts that the Yondaime wrote were the most descriptive. I am certain that his battle with the creature influenced him when he sealed the Kyuubi. He wouldn't want to make something like the Beast of Stone."

"So… Jessinina is one as well, a Jinchuuriki?" Sasuke asked quietly. Itachi glanced over at him and nodded.

"Yes, but one of the 'good' kind." He answered, "Either the demon is well sealed or passive for some reason. I sensed no violence from her."

"Neither did I," the pre-teen agreed, "but, if that's the case, then why is she being hunted? I don't understand that."

"Oh? Don't you? Didn't you feel her power?"

"Of course!" Sasuke growled indignantly, "But she doesn't want to fight! It's not like us, where we're still getting stronger and actually fighting others. She's no threat, so why not leave her alone?"

"Ah, but you see, her feelings are irrelevant since she is no longer human under a technical definition. She was made to be a weapon, only one of nine, that is her sole purpose in life and she is not permitted to deviate from it." Itachi stated. Sasuke made a disgusted sound, making his brother's lips twitch into a faint grin. "I agree, which is why I agreed to help."

"Even though it means we have to escort them to the Fire Lands border?" Sasuke near-whined. He remembered what it was like at 'home' and he did not ever want to return there. He _liked_ it out here, wandering with his brother; he didn't want to go back, especially since Itachi wouldn't be allowed to go with him. Itachi was a Nuke-nin, he had turned his back on his village, and had taken one of Konoha's precious children with him. Itachi's life was forfeit if he ever neared the Fire Lands.

"Yes, you heard the part where they are meeting with an escort at the border, didn't you?"

"That's not the part I'm worried about! You told him we're Uchiha! I thought you said that we were never to reveal our clan name!"

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed while Sasuke tried not to squirm on his rock while he glared reproachfully at his brother. "It's part of the 'game'. I found out one of their secrets, and in turn gave them one of ours. Torimiya-san can now trust us, since we can't betray him. If we reveal his daughter's true nature, he'll expose us and call the Hunters down on our heads."

"What's to keep him from doing that anyway?" The younger brother asked anxiously.

"Because he knows that we'd do the same in turn. If he were to betray us first, we would let the entire village know what Jessinina is and all eyes would be on her and her father. Remember, Jinchuuriki are historically unstable, it is impossibly rare for a kind-hearted one like her to exist. That's why they want to go to Konoha in the first place; she'll be tolerated there like she will not be elsewhere."

"I still don't like it." Sasuke grumbled. Itachi rose and ruffled his hair.

"That makes two of us." He said while he headed back towards town. "Come on, we need to get up early tomorrow. Your guard on your right side is pathetic."

"Oi! What about your base-guard? It isn't any better!" Sasuke cried out as he raced after his older brother.

"I have less worry about my feet than I do about your internal organs."

(99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer! Take one down-)

A few scant miles away, two different beloved family members fretted about much the same topic. Not rear-guards or side-guards, but betrayal and trust, demons and Bloodlines. Torimiya Hiroshino paced the length of his sitting room and sweated; just because he held a counter-secret didn't mean he trusted the people who knew his.

Jessinina, his niece and only remaining family, sat on a divan by the fire-place and watched her uncle and surrogate father.

"I trust them." She said, the first words she had uttered all day. Her start in life hadn't been the kindest, and silence on her part was just one of the symptoms of it. "There is much love between them. Those of evil heart would not have such love."

"But how can we know?" Torimiya said, spinning to stare at his heart-daughter, "How can we know we can trust them? They betrayed the village that we want to go to, how can we trust them to deliver us there safely? How can we trust them to not betray _you_?"

Jessinina's eye's shifted, the pupils widening width-wise, becoming fey and inhuman. The Demon was going to speak now.

"Did not the elder accept my presence with amity?" The she-demon stated in deep, hollow tones. "Did he not guess, and merely react as a tactician given another facet of intelligence? Would he fear and hate my existence, he would not have allowed his treasured younger brother to remain in my presence. The younger was the reason that the elder betrayed the village of their birth. There was no other telling reason."

Torimiya bowed his head a little fearfully. He'd seen the demon in her true form, once. It was when they were escaping the Hidden Village of Rain, the demon Hachibi, the Ocean Leviathan, had come forth to protect her host and her host's family. While he loved his sweet, kind, gentle girl, he was terrified of the demon that lived inside her. So he bowed to her judgment.

"If you think that they will help us, I'll trust you." He said finally, "I still don't like it though, I think that they know too much."

"As do we," the demon who called herself Jourmund said, "We know their clan name, and I am aware that you are aware of the fact that the Uchiha clan is most eager to reclaim their lost offspring. If these two make but one error, you need but mention their true names to an authority." The Eight-tailed eel narrowed her borrowed eyes, "And if they become a true _threat_, I welcome them to deal with _me._"

Torimiya stifled a shudder of horror as Jourmund retreated back into her host. He'd seen what the demon could do when she was enraged. The little that she left behind couldn't be recognized as human… Which made him very grateful that she rarely felt the need to come out. Torimiya much preferred the company of his niece to that of the demon.

(This is the song that never ends! Yes it goes on and on my Friends!)

A.S.: #clears throat# Ah…. #bows down formally, head on the floor# I am so, so, _so_ Sorry that it took this long for me to get the next chapter out. I know I said that I was going to try for monthly updates… but… well….. Let's just say that my summer was more hectic than I thought it would be. First off, Fanime. My First Con, WOOT! Did anyone go there and see the girl with the griffon on her shoulder? That was me! Skandranon is coming again next year, and he's going to be my summons and I'm going to be Shikamaru.

Ahem, continuing my list of excuses. Next was a two and half week trip to Yellowstone. I live in California. If anyone has been on a cross-country trip then you know that the headache starts way before you hit the road and lasts long after you get back home.

Next excuse, forty hour work weeks. My boss has gone insane. I opened up my availability and she pounced! I took my laptop with me so that I could work on my fics a little during lunch breaks… But, I'm the only person back in the aquatics section of my store, so I had, and have! a lot of work to do. I'd get home exhausted and would only want to veg out, neglecting my fics. Gomen.

Other excuse. My house got invaded. Just as I was getting used to my work schedule, my psycho east coast aunt uprooted her poor kids and relocated them onto the west coast, namely my house! It only lasted about a week until they moved into their own house, but may I be so bold as to claim that they sapped out the last of my energy? I will. The main problem was that I have five cats and my aunt has four dogs and she also has the attitude that cats are not worthy creatures. Namely, she hates them, so she didn't really do anything when her dogs chased my cats. She also didn't care when my sixteen year old cat vanished, just apologized and went about her business.

FOR-TUN-ATLY, my dad and I went looking for my kitty after the invasion left, and we found her. My ancient cat is alive and well if a little skinnier than she had been. I'm still baffled as to how that happened though; I live out in the country and stray small animals like cats are alternately known as coyote crunchies.

Last excuse; Itachi got an ego trip. My muses are my main characters, and Itachi is perhaps the most annoying. Naruto is a lot of fun, as is Heero. Sasuke does his emo-kid thing a lot, but that works for my angsty fics. Shikamaru is a lazy bum, but if I horse-whip him enough he comes up with some great plots. But Itachi! ARG! The guy's a hentai!

No, I'm serious! He's the only real adult muse I have and he wants adult themes! _AND_ he thinks that Shikamaru looks great nude and tied to his bed. I told you the guy's a hentai! He's got two stories he wants me to write and he hasn't stopped poking the back of my head with the outlines since he wrote them up. It's annoying like you would not believe, so I gave in and wrote out the first chapters. One's posted on Fanfiction, the other on MediaMiner dot org, due to its heavily mature content. I like my fanfic account, I don't want to lose due to lack of caution. Anyway, if you like weird pairings and you like yaoi, go check them out, "The Word 'Traitor'" and "War and Slavery". If you don't like Yaoi, or you think Itachi or Shikamaru is soul-bonded to someone else, don't bother. I won't force anything on anybody, I'll give all due warning in all my fics if I'm about to write something controversial.

Now that that's over with, Ja ne until next time y'all!


	4. On The Road Again

Chapter 4, AN: I am so sorry it took so long. Real Life hates me, I have work, school, psychotic relatives… oh and my grandfather passed away two days before Christmas and my family and I have been having to deal with the aftermath. I loved my Poppop, but I didn't know him that well, so… Sad, but not devastated; more regretful really. So many things I could have done, could have learned… Can't anymore.

As for the fic, there's going to be a scene later on that I _know_ I'm going to get yelled at for. Just to let you know now, IT'S JUST A CRUSH!!! Nothing more! You'll see and it should be obvious why it happened. Not going to spoil it anymore, go read and have fun and burn incense that I get the next chapter out sooner. I need all the help and incentive I can get. Have fun!

* * *

_I could end up in real deep trouble…_ Sasuke thought casually as he carefully stalked his quarry. _Very_ carefully, this was no ordinary quarry. In fact, if he wasn't near-paranoid in his technique, Sasuke could well wind up with a nasty case of dead if he were caught. Spying on ones own elder brother tended to be dangerous. 

Torimiya hadn't anticipated finding the Uchiha brothers when he did, so he had a few accounts to settle before they left. Settling said accounts was apparently a lengthy business since he had told the brothers to relax for the next couple of days.

Itachi had taken to that news almost eagerly and had trained with Sasuke ruthlessly all day, barely giving the younger brother any chance to catch his breath. Now it was evening, and Itachi had 'gone for a walk' right after dinner. Was Sasuke suspicious? Oh, just a tad. Was he curious? Was fire hot?

Somehow, by some streak of insane luck, Sasuke had managed to trick his brother into thinking that he was more tired than he really was. So Itachi wasn't watching his back nearly as well as he normally did. This was making it very easy for the younger to follow the elder, although if the neighborhood kept growing Red Light like this…

Itachi turned a corner and Sasuke followed via the roofs. _EEP!!!_ Oh, uh, my, er, did bodices normally come that low cut? _Holy Nine! That woman there is about to pop out of her- uh, yeah, I'm trailing my brother, not ogl- er looking at the, uh, 'scenery'._ Many of the woman started to cat-call as soon as they saw Itachi, but somehow the elder Uchiha just ignored it like there was noting of note around him.

_Nothing of note?!_ Sasuke was about to die of a heart attack or a massive nose bleed, which ever came first. He could not figure out how Itachi was remaining so unaffected. Then he watched his brother enter a building-_ who are we kidding, it's a brothel- _with a sign declaring it the 'House of The Night Blossom Tree'; and saw the kind of women there and suddenly understood.

_Comparing those women to these is like comparing back-alley mutts to pedigree show dogs!_ Not only was the physical appearance of the women superior, but the manners as well. No cat-calling, no lewd suggestions or looks, just kind welcoming expressions.

Sasuke found a flat roof near enough to the brothel so he could watch the door, but far enough that he wouldn't be forced to suppress his chakra too much. Then he settled down for a long wait as his brother was ushered into the building. So when a window half-way up the multi-story building was opened to reveal his brother, Sasuke was taken by surprise. So much so that he caught himself staring without meaning to. The fact that neither of the two figures there were wearing a shirt didn't help.

The younger Uchiha was well-acquainted with the fact that the elder was in very good physical condition, so he didn't spare a second glance on him. The woman there on the other hand- she was, uh, also in good condition. Quite, um, healthy in fact! With grand, er, natural endowments. Now Sasuke wasn't only staring, but gaping as well. He hadn't known that people came with proportions like that.

His, cough, view was suddenly cut off by something equally awe-inspiring but not nearly as nice; Itachi's scowling face. _Ulp…_Sasuke didn't need to use Sharingan to read his brother's lips. '_You. Are. Dead. LEAVE!'_

_Yessir!_ Sasuke left. Rapidly.

* * *

"So that's the little brother you talk about so often, eh?" Apple Blossom asked as she languidly pulled the shutters closed. The room hadn't been properly aired out after her last customer had left, so she'd opened the window for a fresh breeze. "Didn't seem all that little." 

Her tone was speculative, and Itachi was broken out of his murderous musings in favor of something more… vindictive.

"In a few years, maybe I'll bring him by to… meet you." Itachi offered. The image of Sasuke dying from the world's most spectacular nose-bleed ran through his mind. Oh, he'd bring Sasuke by here sometime in the future. Whether he remained conscious to appreciate it or not remained to be seen.

"I'd enjoy that, especially if he's anything like you." Blossom said as she poured a cup of wine and tested it before offering it to Itachi. He allowed her to hold the cup while he drank a sip.

"He is, only more innocent." He said. Blossom smiled most seductively.

"And we both know how easily I can fix that, now don't we?" She cooed, half veiling her eyes with her long lashes. Gently she guided Itachi to the large bed that dominated the room.

"I'm not sure I do. Perhaps you can show me." Itachi said, almost playfully. Apple Blossom then proceeded to 'show' Itachi just how easily she could 'cure' anyone of innocence, let alone Sasuke.

Halfway across town, in the safety of the inn, a young boy sneezed and shivered, certain that he was doomed.

* * *

When Itachi finally got back to the inn after a very satisfying evening with the highly talented, highly creative Apple Blossom, it was nearly dawn. So he wasn't very surprised to see that the only thing there to greet him was a blanket lump. 

He regarded the lump carefully, he knew that Sasuke was in there, somewhere. His ototou's chakra signature was unmistakable. What needed careful regard was just what he was going to do to his precious little brother. A grin tried to surface, but was automatically suppressed, Itachi had an idea.

He grabbed the blanket and ruthlessly pulled it away. Sasuke yelped and rolled onto his back defensively. He looked very guilty and embarrassed. Perfect.

"Oi, just what the hell kind of stunt were you trying to pull early? Do you have any notion of privacy?" He growled, not bellowed. They were in an inn, some consideration for their neighbors was required.

"Nii-san, I'm sorry, I didn't know-" Sasuke apologized frantically, holding up his arms as if to protect himself.

"Didn't know? _Didn't know?_ Did it ever occur to you that maybe I had it that way for a reason? Do you think you're ready to 'know' yet?" The elder demanded.

"No! Except I- Ah! Wait! I was just- I was just-!"

"'Just' what?"

"I was curious…" Sasuke admitted in a small voice. Itachi almost smiled.

"Oh, is that so?" He stood back, grinning evilly inside. Sasuke clearly saw the signs of that and cringed, expecting the worst. "Well, if you're truly that curious then maybe I can introduce you to a few people."

"Wai- wha-? Ack!" Sasuke went from frightened and pale to embarrassed and red.

"You know, Apple Blossom was rather interested in meeting you." Itachi continued.

"Wh-Who?"

"You should know her, you were admiring her physique earlier this evening."

"_Ack! _Wai-wait!"

"Not that I can't see why, she is a rather handsome woman, but you only got to see the less impressive half earlier."

"'Less impre- Oh no!"

"Truly, if you want to fully admire the specimen that is Apple Blossom, you have to view her nude and in be-"

"Noooooo! No more! No more! Please!" Sasuke had buried his head under one of their much-abused pillows. From the deep crimson color of the back of his neck, he was testing the limits to which one could blush without fainting from the rush of blood to the head. For the first time in many years, Itachi actually chuckled out loud. Ah, punishing one's mischievous younger brother could be so much _fun_ sometimes.

He sat down next to the pre-teen who was wistfully hoping to spontaneously drop to the center of the earth. "No more spying?" He asked.

"No more spying." Sasuke's declaration came clearly in spite of the muffling pillows. "No more spying, not now, not ever. If I get curious, I'll just _ask_! …Maybe."

Itachi grinned again inwardly. He pulled back the pillow, revealing Sasuke's still beet-red face.

"You do realize that you're an evil bastard though, right?" Sasuke asked, glaring.

"With you to constantly remind me? How can I ever forget?" A wicked twinkle enter his dark eyes, "Now, are you certain you don't to meet Apple Blossom? She's free this eveni-"

"Ack! No! No! Bad Nii-san! Bad!" Sasuke lashed out with a pillow to fend off not only his brother's suggestions but the images that came with them. Itachi fended off the flailing pillow with one hand while reaching for a return weapon with the other.

"Now boys," Came an all-too-familiar voice from the doorway, "What have I said about pillow fights?" It was the inn-keepers wife again, somehow stifling her amusement. But it was hard when she got near-identical embarrassed faces turned towards her.

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am." The brothers chorused. The woman shook her head and continued down to the kitchen. She hadn't been sure about giving a room to two young mercenaries at first, but these two had earned their place. They were good kids, good, polite young fighters; even if they were easy to tease.

* * *

The day after the almost-pillow-fight found the brothers back at Torimiya's mansion. Torimiya had stated that he and his daughter needed to get to Konoha as soon as possible. Itachi had mentioned the fact that their traveling pace was going to be determined by how quickly the two civilians could travel, which was far less swiftly than the Uchiha brothers could travel. Torimiya assured Itachi that he could travel rapidly enough, with a little help and had led the brothers downstairs to view that help. Downstairs and outside. To the stables. 

Which was where Itachi was having a minor crisis. Bad enough that there were two horses, a pretty little mare and a nice looking gelding, but the other two… creatures…

The other two were as tall as horses, had four legs like horses, and a flowing mane and tail like horses, but they were most definitely _not_ horses. Not when they had scales and forked horns, nor with claw like 'hooves', sharp fangs and dramatically draconic heads…

The creature in front of Itachi, a gold colored male, glowered at him and snorted. Itachi thought it sounded contemptuous, which was fair since he didn't know the first thing about riding. The elder brother broke out in a nervous sweat; he cleared his throat. Hopefully he wouldn't squeak.

"Torimiya-san?" Itachi managed to say.

"Hmm?" The spice merchant asked as he rubbed under the chin of his placid gelding.

"I assume that you are aware of the fact that you own two _Kirin_?"

"Oh, yes. One of my more wealthy customers gave these two to me in lieu of cash." He looked up at his hired guard, smiling benignly. "I've been told that they are the preferred mounts of fighters, seeing as they are good fighters themselves." The merchant looked like he had just given a great gift to a friend and was waiting for thanks. Itachi hated to disappoint such a kind soul but-

"Be that as it may, Sasuke and I don't know how to ride _horses_, let alone… these." Itachi gestured at the gold male Kirin in front of him, who lifted his lip in a warning snarl. Silence descended in the stable, and even Jessinina, who was stroking the nose of her mare, looked over in faint astonishment. She was, of course, well acquainted in the care of horses, or any animal that she spent time with. Itachi just happened to be her opposite in that.

"M-my apologies." Torimiya stammered, "By your manner, I had assumed…" Itachi flinched. To most minds, noble or common, noblemen equaled landed and _mounted_. The Uchiha brothers were noble born with the manners and speech patterns that came with it, things that couldn't be successfully copied. Naturally, Torimiya had assumed that they knew how to ride as well.

"Regretfully, shinobi of any class rarely need to know how to ride, or even have the time to learn." Itachi explained. What he did not say was that even if he had had the time, he didn't have the inclination. He wasn't fond of horses, mostly because they weren't too fond of him.

"Ah, er, well, I'm in no shape for a marathon dash cross-country anyway, so there should be time to teach you." The merchant said a frantic edge to his voice. "And I've often been told that riding Kirin is easier that riding horses…" The gold male snorted as if to challenge that. Apparently Kirin shared the horses' opinions of Itachi. The elder Uchiha began to feel as desperate as his employer.

Torimiya had no real choice in who he hired; his only option was the Uchiha brothers. Itachi had done a little snooping and apparently Torimiya had interviewed every available guard in the area and only the Uchiha's had been found suitable. He was either stuck where he was or stuck with the brothers, so he was going to have to ignore the lack of one skill.

Itachi was in a similar impasse, Mercenary Guild fees had for some reason increased in the last several months. He and Sasuke had no choice but to pay the increased fee, they needed Guild protection and patronage, for who knew what the future held? Torimiya was going to pay them a very great deal, the brothers _needed_ that money. So they were going to have to learn this skill. No matter what ugly look the gold male was giving Itachi.

A soft laugh broke the desperate mood in the stable and the two adults looked at the source of the sound. It was Sasuke, apparently his Kirin, a crimson female, had taken a great liking to him and was nuzzling his hair, making the boy laugh. _Oh, sure. Go right ahead and make friends with your beast. Traitor._

"Ah, good. That's an excellent sign, quite excellent." The merchant said. Beside him Jessinina was watching Sasuke with gentle smile and a slight blush. _Uh-oh._ "Well, how about I show you how to get these lovelies kitted up and then we'll head out, shall we?"

The gold male was growling at Itachi now, challenging him to do anything. _'Excellent sign', yeah right. Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to be a good trip?_ The male snorted and scraped his sharp claw-like hoof. Apparently he agreed that this was not going a good trip because he himself was going to make sure of that.

One of Torimiya's hired hands walked up with the saddle and harness, giving Itachi a very skeptical look, which his employer echoed. _It looks like I'm going to be right, again.

* * *

_

_Sometimes I hate being right,_ Itachi thought as his mount, Stardance, tossed his head, again, nearly stabbing his rider with his antlers, again. The elder brother sighed and thumped the beast right between those antlers and jerked the reins, forcing the beast's mouth down and antlers away from Itachi's chest. Stardance snorted and started chewing the bit. This was the eighth time that day that Stardance had tried to gore his rider and Itachi was getting sick of it.

He was also sick of the doubtful looks that Torimiya kept giving him, and just because that damned beast was making his life difficult. Itachi was a professional shinobi, damnit; shinobi had no reason to ride! It was the Kirin that was making him look bad and Itachi didn't like it. He was used to looking impressive, not incompetent. And Sasuke was not helping one bit.

The elder brother cast a slightly sour look at the younger. Sasuke was chatting amiably with Jessinina, or rather, was talking to her while she listened and made the appropriate responses. He was also riding Fireshadow, the crimson female, as if he'd been born to the saddle. The fact that she clearly adored her rider and would do anything he asked didn't hurt one bit.

_""Enjoying yourself, ototou?""_ Itachi asked. Sasuke suppressed a twitch at the unexpected contact and responded.

_""Um, yeah, I am. Jessinina's a nice girl.""_ Sasuke's embarrassment was blatant, as was his budding crush. That was the other thing that was making the two adults uneasy was the fact that the two youngsters were enjoying each others company so much.

But Itachi at least could see how it had happened on both sides easily. Jessinina was a polite, quiet and kind girl and also happened to be rather pretty, if not beautiful. She listened to Sasuke attentively without hanging off his every word, she made it clear but not painfully obvious that she enjoyed his company, she would greet him with a shy smile when he came back to camp after scouting the perimeter but didn't try to glomp him. To make it short, she behaved in a wildly different way than any other girl, or even woman, that Sasuke had encountered before. Novelty was assisting nature, Sasuke was twelve after all, and he was supposed to be showing some interest in the opposite sex naturally.

On Jessinina's part, Sasuke was kind, gentle and well-spoken, and only mildly protective. He didn't criticize her quietness, just looked for the clues of her response, he complemented her manners and accepted her help in camp with thanks, but didn't make a fuss of it, as if it were a given that she could and would help. He knew of her burden, but ignored it without _ignoring_ it. He occasionally made reference to it, asking if she could sense this or that and stated that it was helpful that her burden gave her greater endurance and accelerated healing. But that was all, since _of course_ she had the Bijuu under control, her father was still with her and loved her, didn't he? For her as well, Sasuke's behavior was novel, he treated her as a person, an equal, and she liked it. Very much.

Natural attraction, and it could cause more problems than it solved if it grew too much. _She's the employer's daughter. Sasuke may be nobly born, but he doesn't have the benefits anymore, so in that she's out of his league. Also, they are going into the Fire Lands, to Konoha, and we can't follow. And she's Jinchuuriki, and I have no clue just how that will complicate things beyond the fact that it will. _

_And my dear little brother is letting himself get distracted from his job of rearguard. _

_""Anything on our tail, chibi?""_ Itachi asked.

_""Don't call me that! And- oh, oops?""_ Sasuke said, looking up at him sheepishly.

_""Mind your job, there will be time for flirting tonight."" _Itachi warned.

_""'Nina and I aren't flirting, we're just talking!""_

_""Is that what they're calling it these days, and "'Nina" is it?""_ Sasuke didn't respond to that, just concluded whatever it was he was saying to Jessinina and reigned Fireshadow up a bit, falling back. Itachi sighed and focused his attention forward again, just in time for Stardance to decide that that stump beside the road was going to leap out and get him. The elder Uchiha swore and struggled to keep his seat, rein the devil-beast in and punching his neck in retribution. Torimiya gave him _another_ doubtful look, which Itachi masterfully ignored. At least he kept his seat this time. The last time Stardance had spooked at a boogieman, Itachi had gone flying and it had taken nearly an hour for Jessinina to coax the beast close enough to grab his reins.

* * *

Sasuke had never been so embarrassed in his life, his brother had had to remind him to do his job. Not even the humiliation from his last spying trip could measure up. That was just… normal. His brother had been teasing him and yes it was embarrassing, but nothing at all like this. Sasuke was a shinobi, an Uchiha, trained by his brother who had made Anbu captain at age thirteen. He should be far more professional than to get side-tracked by a girl. Even if that girl was kind and pretty and easy to talk to, and- _No! No and no and no and no! I can't think of that, there's at least a hundred reasons why I can't and the main one is I'm rear-guard and I have to focus!_

Sasuke sighed and refocused his mind, scanning for chakra or strange noises. Fireshadow flicked her tufted ears back at the sound of his sigh, making Sasuke smile and stroke her neck. 'Shadow responded by arching her neck more, flagging her tail and letting a prance enter her step.

Kirin were odd creatures, with vaguely deer-like bodies, although heavier than any deer could be, a flowing crest of long fur running the length of their spine, and the underside of their curved tail. The rest of the Kirin's body was scaled, save for silky tufts at ankle, knee, shoulder and withers. That and the head, which was straight off of a statue of the classic oriental dragon. 'Shadow was smaller and slimmer than Stardance, but not by much and both were larger and more muscular than the horses. And both showed far greater signs of intelligence, or at least 'Shadow did.

Sasuke had been able to train her a little already and he'd only been riding her for two and one half days. He'd taught her to kneel for him so that it was easier to put her saddle on, and to bow her head for the bit. Not that he'd been using the later much recently; his body position and the pressure of the rein on her neck seemed to be enough.

He'd taught her to do these things with the reward of praise and a mouthful of smoked meat, her favorite treat, alone. Recently, Sasuke wondered if his praise would be enough. It was for Jessinina. Sasuke's eye's strayed to her figure, and he wondered at the change in her. It wasn't much, but she was less painfully shy out here than she had been back in the city. Her head was raised, her back straight and she was looking around, smiling softly when she saw or heard something that pleased her.

She really was rather pretty, even if she wasn't beautiful. Her features were very even, although her nose was a tad too long and her jaw just slightly too strong for true beauty. But so much else about her was so very appealing, so very _different_ than any other girl that Sasuke had met that he didn't even note the tiny flaws in her features. Not that those flaws were important anyway.

She didn't throw herself at him; she didn't chase him or try to show him why she and she alone was the perfect bride. All 'Nina did was listen, make small comments and small smiles. She helped out when they camped and willingly lent a hand when Sasuke tended to 'Shadow, which was an enormous help since he didn't really know what he was doing. He liked her more than he had liked any other girl in his acquaintance and- _and I'm not doing my job again, Nii-san's going to kill me!_

He refocused, and just in time to see Stardance jump his entire body length sideways, shooting Itachi out of the saddle. It was a bad spill, 'Nina gasped softly and Torimiya uttered a worried oath. Sasuke sent out a worried thought and encountered- anger. Sasuke pulled his mind back and just sat, watching. Itachi rarely got that angry. _This could be bad.

* * *

_

Itachi rose to his feet stiffly, even if he was a well-trained shinobi, that tumble had hurt. He caught that damned beast's eyes, making it prance back in budding alarm, but not bolt off. The next thing everyone saw was Itachi's hands grabbing the hell-beast's antlers. With a grunt, Itachi heaved the creature into the air and slammed it down on its back. The elder Uchiha was beyond fed up, and now Stardance knew it.

The male Kirin tried to scramble to his feet but stopped all movement when his muzzle was grabbed in an iron grip.

"Do not test me." Itachi growled. Stardance stared and whimpered. "Understand?" The Kirin tried to bob his head, staring straight into Itachi's red eyes. Itachi stared back and was evidently satisfied with what he saw. He let go of the Kirin's nose. Stardance didn't move, just watched the elder Uchiha.

"Up." Itachi barked. Stardance scrambled to his feet. "Stand." Stardance didn't move a muscle as Itachi hauled himself back into the saddle. The Uchiha settled himself and then glared at his traveling companions. "Well? Are we just going to stand here?"

With a growl he set Stardance's nose back on the trail and kicked him into motion. The Kirin limped forward, but took evident pains to disguise his limp.

"Wha-wha-?" Torimiya started to ask, but Sasuke rode 'Shadow beside him and distracted him.

"Don't ask him anything just now, Nii-san's not going to be in the mood to answer any questions." Sasuke explained. Torimiya stared.

"But- but- That Kirin is over 1500 pounds and he- and he flipped it like I would an unruly ten pound dog!" The merchant exclaimed. Sasuke nodded.

"Nii-san was an Anbu captain before he left Konoha." Sasuke said as if that explained everything.

"But- but- so strong!" Torimiya gaped some more.

"Well, he wouldn't have made captain at thirteen if he wasn't."

"Thirteen! But Jessi's that old!"

Sasuke shrugged, "Shinobi have to be strong with all that's asked of us."

"You mean you could-!" Torimiya was staring like he'd never stop.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side, considering. "I'd have to use more chakra than Nii-san had, but yeah, I think I could do that too." Torimiya's eyes were fit to fall out of his head.

"Well?!" Itachi yelled from farther up the road, "Are we going?"

"Coming Nii-san!" Sasuke called back. He looked over at 'Nina, who was watching and waiting patiently, and then grabbed the reins of Torimiya's gelding and trotted up to the impatient Itachi. Stardance had his head bowed submissively, licking his lips in an appeasing gesture. Torimiya was staring at Itachi in awe. Sasuke stifled a smirk, one thing was certain now; no one was going to question Itachi's abilities anymore.

* * *

It was late evening, camp had been made, the beasts settled for the night, dinner made and eaten, and Itachi was trading watch with Sasuke. The pre-teen tended to get wired in the evening and had to wear out his mind thinking before he could sleep, whereas Itachi had a true soldier's instincts and could sleep anywhere, anytime. Oh, true, the younger brother could cat-nap anywhere, but it was usually best he take first watch. And right now, he was done and ready to crawl into his sleeping bag. 

Itachi smiled gently down at him and touched his mind to share a moment of affection. Sasuke returned the gesture and then curled into his usual sleeping position. In moments he was asleep. The elder brother scanned the immediate area with all senses but found nothing amiss and so settled down to a long watch alone with his thoughts.

But it wasn't that way long; Jessinina sat up and gracefully exited her sleeping bag to join him near the fire.

"Can't sleep?" Itachi whispered to her.

"The child can sleep, but words should be exchanged between us two." The young girl said in deep, hollow tones. She raised her eyes and they glowed with a fey light. Itachi swallowed hard.

"To whom am I speaking?" He asked as politely as he could manage. The person across the fire chuckled softly.

"I believe you know to whom you speak, but I shall grant you the name that I go by. I am Jourmund, Hachibi, the Eight-tailed Leviathan." She said. Itachi bowed his head, wanting to show that he respected what he was speaking to.

"To what do I owe the great honor?" He asked. The girl-shaped demon looked over at Sasuke, her expression gentle.

"So kind," She murmured, "Both of you, so incredibly kind. Have you any notion how wonderful it is, kindness, to one who all but never knows it?" Itachi regarded her.

"I can imagine," He said slowly, "I remember how it was in the village, just before I left. Only two people were really, honestly kind to me. One was Sasuke, the other…" he paused, letting the pain come and go, "The other died, because of my foolishness."

Jourmund closed her eyes and nodded her understanding. "So you know, so you understand. I treasure my host, for she is of good heart. To her, you and especially your brother are also treasured as two of the three humans she has encountered in her life that treat her as she is, human and good. For this, I thank you, truly, for her sake and mine."

"Your thanks are received gratefully." Itachi replied carefully. Jourmund looked at him again, her marine eyes glowing brightly.

"And to show my thanks, a word of warning," She continued. Itachi sat up and focused all his attention on the being across from him. "The ones who hunt us are more then just the soldiers of the one who bound me. Those are the lesser threat; the greater are two who cloak themselves in red clouds on a field of black. These two are strong, yet individually less so than you." She paused expectantly.

"How likely are they to work together?" He asked.

"Not, I think. The one who uses water is disgusted by the one who uses snakes, and rightfully. The latter is the one to watch however, he knows honor _not!_" Itachi nodded. "He seeks power as well. He may come to seek your eyes, if he can."

"I'll bear that firmly in mind," He said, narrowing his coveted eyes.

"Another thing, perhaps the harder," Jourmund said, then hesitated a moment. "The bond you share, you and your brother… it could become… double-edged."

"How so?" Itachi asked, cautious again.

Jourmund stared at a point above Itachi's head, clearly struggling to put her knowledge into words.

"The more you grow, the closer you become, the more… intertwined you become." She said, "You could become so- intertwined, it could become- hazardous. If one should fall, so too would the other, if things continue as they are."

"How could that happen?" Itachi asked, confused.

"You and your brother were bound since his birth, but the bond could have faded, yet it was nurtured and not unwisely. But the way the bond grows, ever tighter… It is hard to say, but now you are not only bound but linked, as two made one." She paused, frustrated, and worried. "I know not how to explain better than that."

"I understand." Itachi said, staring into the fire trying to figure out the demon's words. Bound? Linked? How and in what way? Did the ease he had in talking telepathically with Sasuke have anything to do with it, or the way that Sasuke could easily judge Itachi's mood play a part? "You said that my brother and I are nurturing this bond; is there a way to not do so?"

"Aside from living apart, no." Jourmund replied easily. Itachi looked at her aghast. Live apart from his brother, the only kin he acknowledged, the only constant he had to hold onto. To do that was… unthinkable. Jourmund read his response easily. "You see? You are bound."

_If one should fall, so too would the other._ Itachi had never thought about it before, but if Sasuke were to die… _I'd follow, immediately. Why would I want to live without him? What would be the point?_ He couldn't think of one. Shouldn't that frighten him? Yet it didn't, only the thought of Sasuke dying. That thought… was beyond frightening. It was terrifying. But on another level, the fact that it did terrify him just felt… right.

* * *

A.S.: FINALLY!!! I finally got this done and got it out! Yeah for me! 

Itachi: (comes up on right side) 'Mi-chan…

Sasuke: (comes up on left side)(singsong) Skitty….

A.S.: (writer-senses tingle with oncoming screwed-ness) Ulp?

Itachi and Sasuke: How many times do we have to tell you that we're not fking each other!?!?!

A.S.: Ack! Wait! When did I ever say you were? When did I even _hint_ that you were?

Itachi: Oh, I don't know, maybe the last scene for this chapter hinted at it just a _little?_

A.S.: Hey, hey! Whoa, whoa! I'm foreshadowing and building up the relationship here! I'm trying to make a brotherly bond like the Elrics from Full Metal Alchemist! Nothing more.

Sasuke: Do you have any idea how much that _doesn't_ help? Have you any idea how much Elricest is out there?

A.S.: Uhm…(checks stats)(squick!!!!!!) yeah… doesn't help much, does it… Uh, okay, how about Ninja Turtles brother bond?

Itachi and Sasuke: ……………………………………. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

A.S.: ………….Okay that doesn't help much either, does it? Well, I tried.

A.S.: Oh and for all of you out there reading this wanting to make Itachi and Sasuke jump each others bones, FEEL FREE TO WRITE A SPIN OFF!!!!!!!! I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT SO LONG AS I GET THE CREDIT FOR COMING UP WITH THE BASE PLOT. IF YOU WANT TO WRITE A STORY THAT PARALLELS MINE, YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION AND BLESSING. IN FACT, I'D LOVE TO READ IT MYSELF, SO LINK ME!!

Sasuke: You would want to read it.

Itachi: Damned pervert, yaoi fanatic authoress, grumble-mumble.

A.S.: (evil look) Oh, Shisui! I think Itachi needs a hug!

Itachi: Eh? (pounced)

Shisui: Ita-bita-bou-chou-chan!!!!!!! (snuggles)

Itachi: Get it off!!! Get it _Off!!!_

Sasuke: Heck no way! I don't know where it's been, it might be contagious!

A.S.: Until next time everybody! Don't forget to read 'Different Paths'! Ja ne

Itachi: Somebody help!!!!


End file.
